To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many (a) qualified and (b) other school nurses are employed in each (i) region and (ii) primary care trust; and how many such nurses were employed in each such area in 2004. (318941)

A table containing the number of school nurses employed in each strategic health authority and primary care trust in 2004 and 2008 has been placed in the Library. Data for 2009 will be available when the annual workforce census is published on 25 March 2010.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of (a) secondary schools and (b) associated primary school clusters are served by a full-time school nurse. (319539)

The information requested is not collected centrally.

Our child health strategy “Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures” (published February 2009) recognised the importance of school health services. In particular, that school health teams provide a key link between education and health services, providing guidance and support on a range of health-related issues.

The Healthy Child Programme, published in October 2009, will be of further assistance in determining the composition of school health teams, which will vary from locality to locality according to local needs and service configurations. In most cases, they will have school nurses at their core, working with other professionals and support staff. The latest available figures for the number of national health service employed nurses working in a school environment show an increase of over 50 per cent., from 2,409 in 2004 to 3,643 nurses in 2008.