Written question asked by Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative) on Thursday, 30 October 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 20 November 2003. It was answered by Baroness Hodge of Barking (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2003 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many inspectors of homes which care for children were carried out in Somerset in (a) 2001-02 and (b) 2002-03. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many inspectors of homes that care for children were carried out in Somerset in (a) 2001-02 and (b) 2002-03. [136550] Margaret Hodge: 145 inspections of children's homes were carried out in Somerset during the year ended 31 March 2002. The number of homes due to be inspected in that year was 77, each home would expect to have both an announced (i.e. with prior notice) and an unannounced (i.e. without prior notice) inspection each year. In 2002-03, NCSC Inspectors carried out 60 announced inspections and 30 unannounced inspections of children's homes in Somerset. It is expected that the NCSC will perform two inspections per year (one announced and one unannounced). However, as 2002-03 was the first year in which the NCSC was operational it should be taken into account that a large proportion of homes would not have been registered until the latter part of that year. Therefore the second inspection although within the time frame might not fall until the following year 2003-04.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 413 c1469-70W;413 c1465-6W; 136550
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Children Children in care Care homes Inspections Standards Somerset
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk