To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans her Department has to consult local authorities on the 200 performance indicators which will be included in the new local government performance framework. (152840)

The Comprehensive Spending Review which is currently under way will shape the new national indicator set for local government. Departments have been consulting key stakeholders, including local authorities and representative organisations where appropriate, on their proposals for Public Service Agreements, Delivery Agreements and associated indicators.

The national indicator set for local government will be announced alongside the Comprehensive Spending Review in the autumn. We plan to consult local authorities on the detailed definitions of indicators following this announcement.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Yardley of 13 June 2007, Official Report, column 1073W, on local government: standards, which local authorities in each Government Office region have public service agreement or local area agreement targets which relate to children being placed in care, other than adoptions; what the targets are in each case; and how much funding each local authority will receive if it achieves these targets. (153537)

No local authorities currently have local public service agreement (LPSA) or local area agreement (LAA) reward element targets in relation to the numbers of children they look after. Only one local authority has ever had a target relating to children being placed in care as part of its LPSA or LAA reward element. In its first round LPSA Kent county council (Government Office of the South East Region) chose to include a local target to "reduce the total number of children looked after by KCC (bearing in mind the individual needs of the children and the involvement of the courts".

The target Kent county council negotiated related to their performance in March 2004, and to improve from an anticipated 1,300 children looked after down to 1,200 children looked after. KCC achieved this target and received £2.1 million in performance reward grant from Government.

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many improvement targets for councils will be (a) established via local area agreements and (b) included in her Department’s plans. (153691)

From 2008, local area agreements (LAAs) will be the only place where improvement targets can be established with local authorities for outcomes they deliver alone or in partnership. Baroness Andrews set out the Government’s position on the number of improvements targets during the passage of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill on 16th July 2007:

“We expect LAAs to contain up to 35 improvement targets and 18 statutory education and early years targets.” [Official Report, House of Lords, 16 July 2007, Vol. 694, c. 95]

These targets will be drawn from the single set of around 200 national indicators for local government which will be published following CSR07, and which will reflect the priorities of all Departments. Targets in LAAs will vary between localities. They will be dependent on the outcome of negotiations between Local Strategic Partnerships and the Government offices representing central Government.