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School Standards

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the number and proportion of grant-maintained schools deemed by Ofsted (a) to be failing and (b) to have serious weaknesses, requiring follow-up visits. [37158]

Mr. Robin Squire: Nine grant-maintained schools have been identified by Her Majesty's chief inspector as failing or likely to fail and therefore in need of special measures. On the basis of the latest comparable figures the proportion of GM schools found to be failing is 1.9 per cent. of those inspected.

Schools having serious weaknesses are not specifically identified as such by registered inspectors. This is a matter for Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools, who heads the Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Mr. Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member.

Mr. Parry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the number and proportion of local education authority-maintained schools deemed by Ofsted (a) to be failing and (b) to have serious weaknesses, requiring follow-up visits. [37159]

Mr. Squire: A total of 173 local education authority-maintained schools have been identified by Her Majesty's chief inspector as failing or likely to fail and therefore in need of special measures. On the basis of the latest comparable figures the proportion of LEA schools found to be failing is 2.1 per cent. of those inspected.

Schools having serious weaknesses are not specifically identified as such by registered inspectors. This is a matter for Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools, who heads the Office for Standards in Education. I have asked Mr. Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member.

European Social Fund

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans she has to submit a programme to the European Commission under objective 4 of the European social fund for 1997-99. [37467]

Mr. Forth: The Government have no present plans to submit an objective 4 plan to the European Commission.

Teacher Training

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the (i) target intake and (ii) actual intake for primary and early years teacher training in (a) 1995 and (b) 1996; and what is the target intake for 1997. [37255]

Mr. Robin Squire: The target intakes for primary teacher training in England in 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 together with the actual intake for 1995-96 are set out in the following table. The actual intake figures for 1996-97 will not be known until after courses start in the autumn. The Government do not publish separate targets for early years teacher training.

16 Jul 1996 : Column: 470

TargetActual
1995-9612,11513,601
1996-9711,500n/a
1997-9812,200n/a

Pre-school Provision

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what was (a) the number and (b) the percentage of four-year-olds in pre-school provision in each local education authority and nationally in 1996; [37256]

Mr. Robin Squire: Information on pupils aged three and four in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in England in January 1996--provisional--is shown in the following table. The Department does not publish information on participation rates of individual age cohorts by local education authority. Participation rates for all pupils aged under five for each local education authority will be available in the autumn.

Pupils aged three and four in maintained nursery schools and nursery classes in maintained primary schools in England(4)

Age Number of pupilsPercentage of population at 31 December 1995
3(5)209,20032
4(6)155,10024
3 and 4364,30028

(4) These figures are not directly comparable with those released in previous years due to changes in the data collected.

(5) Includes pupils aged two. Excludes pupils born between 1 September 1991 and 31 December 1991.

(6) Includes pupils born between 1 September 1991 and 31 December 1991. Excludes pupils born between 1 September 1990 and 31 December 1990.

Agency Printing Costs

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will list the agencies for which her Department is responsible and the costs incurred by each for printing (a) all publications and (b) its annual report in the last year for which figures are available. [37463]

Mr. Robin Squire: The Department has two next steps agencies: the Employment Service; and the Teachers' Pensions Agency.

Information on the costs incurred on printing all publications is not recorded separately by the two agencies and could be disaggregated from other printing costs only at disproportionate cost.

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Information is, however, available about the specific cost of printing the agencies' annual report and accounts. The cost of printing the Employment Service annual report and accounts for 1995-96 is expected to be around £23,000. The cost of printing the 1995-96 Teachers' Pensions Agency annual report and accounts was £5,400.

Primary School Pupils

Mr. Blunkett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many five, six and seven-year-olds there are (a) in each local education authority and (b) nationally. [37150]

Mr. Robin Squire [holding answer 15 July 1996]: The latest information on the numbers of pupils in school in each local education authority area in England who were aged between five and seven years of age is shown in the following table.

Pupils aged 5-7 years of age (1)(2) in local education authority area in England
January 1995

Local education authorityPupils
Corporation of London127
Camden6,018
Greenwich9,160
Hackney8,170
Hammersmith and Fulham4,419
Islington6,606
Kensington and Chelsea5,572
Lambeth8,601
Lewisham9,130
Southwark9,815
Tower Hamlets8,760
Wandsworth8,605
Westminster5,072
Barking and Dagenham6,846
Barnet11,376
Bexley9,093
Brent9,641
Bromley11,282
Croydon13,280
Ealing11,514
Enfield10,669
Haringey8,623
Harrow8,035
Havering9,070
Hillingdon9,676
Hounslow8,032
Kingston upon Thames5,060
Merton6,509
Newham11,213
Redbridge9,295
Richmond upon Thames6,210
Sutton6,476
Waltham Forest8,791
Birmingham45,341
Coventry12,801
Dudley11,898
Sandwell12,664
Solihull8,552
Walsall11,099
Wolverhampton10,382
Knowsley7,554
Liverpool20,220
St. Helens7,300
Sefton11,589
Wirral13,938
Bolton11,323
Bury7,358
Manchester18,999
Oldham10,020
Rochdale9,278
Salford9,928
Stockport11,674
Tameside9,515
Trafford8,779
Wigan12,284
Barnsley8,680
Doncaster12,454
Rotherham10,421
Sheffield19,243
Bradford21,809
Calderdale8,330
Kirklees15,657
Leeds28,340
Wakefield13,154
Gateshead7,545
Newcastle upon Tyne10,333
North Tyneside7,642
South Tyneside6,330
Sunderland12,381
Isles of Scilly63
Avon36,777
Bedfordshire23,697
Berkshire30,924
Buckinghamshire27,074
Cambridge26,654
Cheshire38,923
Cleveland24,624
Cornwall17,641
Cumbria17,932
Derbyshire36,029
Devon38,050
Dorset22,743
Durham22,886
East Sussex25,100
Essex60,963
Gloucestershire21,148
Hampshire63,188
Hereford and Worcester26,592
Hertfordshire40,358
Humberside35,985
Isle of Wight4,490
Kent61,756
Lancashire57,654
Leicestershire36,577
Lincolnshire22,699
Norfolk27,148
North Yorkshire26,504
Northamptonshire25,429
Northumberland11,389
Nottinghamshire40,605
Oxfordshire22,009
Shropshire16,623
Somerset18,053
Staffordshire41,776
Suffolk24,876
Surrey38,875
Warwickshire19,322
West Sussex26,245
Wiltshire23,782
England1,918,724

(7) Ages as at 31 August 1994.

(8) Includes pupils in all maintained and non-maintained schools.

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