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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Pre-school Places
Mr. Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many extra pre-school places he plans to make available for three year olds next year. [89536]
Ms Hodge: The 57 Local Education Authorities receiving funding for three-year-olds for the autumn 1999 and spring 2000 terms have indicated that they can secure around 48,000 new free places for three year olds. From April 2000, further funding will be distributed across all Local Education Authorities. We are committed to ensuring that 66 per cent. of three year-olds have a free nursery place by 2002.
Parental Choice
Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures the Government are taking to increase parental choice in education. [90371]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Parents mainly exercise their right to parental choice when expressing a preference as to the school they would like for their child's education. The Government have ensured that local education authorities have a statutory duty to have regard to the principle that pupils should be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents as far as possible.
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The Code of Practice on School Admissions confirms the need for: parents to be given sufficient information for informed choice; clear and objective admission arrangements; simple admission procedures with the minimum of bureaucracy; and an effective statutory right of appeal.
The Greenwich judgment of 1989 has given many parents greater opportunity for choice as to their child's school. The funding we are providing to LEAs to meet our infant class size pledge for 5, 6 and 7 year olds will mean that more parents will achieve their first choice of school and will also result in 12,000 extra places at popular schools. And we have ensured, in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, that appeal panels will be visibly independent of those who took the original decision not to admit a child, giving parents greater confidence to pursue appeals.
Mr. Reed:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the proportion of schools' budgets spent on sport or PE The Minister for School Standards, [90782]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Budget data for estimating the cost of providing sport and PE in schools are not held centrally.
Mr. Reed:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much was spent by each local education authority on promoting sport or PE in schools in the last year for which figures are available. [90780]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Information on spending to promote sport and PE in schools is not held centrally.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what reports he has received from Ofsted on the need for improvement in the laboratory teaching of (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) biology, (d) environmental sciences and (e) other sciences in the past two years; and if he will make a statement. [91281]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The teaching of science subjects in secondary schools is referred to in several of the reports published by Ofsted during the past two years, including HM Chief Inspector's annual reports for 1996-97 and 1997-98, Secondary Education 1993-97, and Standards in the Secondary Curriculum 1997-98.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the research which he has evaluated in the past two years into the provision of laboratory science teaching in (a) England and Wales, (b) the USA and (c) European countries; and if he will make a statement. [91287]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The only relevant research commissioned by the Department is "Labour Market for Engineering, Science and IT Graduates: Are there Mismatches between Supply and Demand?" which covers briefly some aspect of science teaching in schools. The research was carried out by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, and was published in June 1999.
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Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to develop technical assistance for teachers in school scientific laboratories. [91283]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The Government announced in their Green Paper on Teachers their intention to provide funding to increase the number of teaching assistants by 20,000 full-time posts (or equivalent) by 2002. Schools, as employers, may wish to use some of these posts for the provision of technical assistance to teachers of Science in schools.
Dr. Gibson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment he has made of the range of qualifications held by those teaching science at (a) GCSE level and (b) A-level; and if he will make a statement. [91277]
Ms Estelle Morris:
Details of the amount of science tuition time taught at GCSE and A-level for the academic year 1996-97 and the qualifications of the teachers are given in tables 17 and 18 of the DfEE Statistical Bulletin '1996-97 Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey', a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library.
The Government have taken steps to encourage graduates with maths and science qualifications to become teachers. Following the introduction of financial incentives, applications to take Postgraduate Certificates in Education to deliver science are up by 24 per cent. on this time last year and for mathematics the increase is 37 per cent.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to review the arrangements for issuing correspondence setting out departmental policy in his name from his Parliamentary Office. [91670]
Ms Estelle Morris:
My right hon. Friend has no plans for such a review.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children are in receipt of an assisted place. [91669]
Ms Estelle Morris:
There are 29,795 assisted place holders in England in the current academic year 1998-99.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average cost of (a) an assisted place and (b) an assisted place to age 13 years according to the most recent figures. [91673]
Ms Estelle Morris:
The average cost of an assisted place in the current academic year 1998-99 is £4,145. Since the fees charged for the great majority of assisted place holders aged between 11 and 18 are similar across the age range, and almost 95 per cent. of assisted pupils are in that range, the average cost of a place to age 13 is estimated to be of a similar order to that for the scheme as a whole.
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Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children in receipt of an assisted place due to end in the summer term of 1999 are attending the junior school of an all through school. [91674]
Ms Estelle Morris:
There are estimated to be about 230 children in the junior departments of all through schools whose assisted places will end at the close of the current academic year.
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils in receipt of an assisted place (a) applied for and (b) received an extension of their assisted place under Section 2(2)(6) of the Education (Schools) Act 1997; and in each case how many related to an extension to (i) age 13 and (ii) beyond age 13 years. [91671]
Ms Estelle Morris:
We have received 343 applications for extension and approved 189 of them. 152 of the applications related to an extension to age 13, and 191 were for an extension beyond that age. Of the 189 cases approved, 117 related to an extension to age 13, and 72 were for an extension beyond age 13.
Mr. Burstow:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the non-departmental public bodies in existence on 1 May 1997 that (a) have been disbanded, indicating when they were disbanded, (b) will be disbanded in the next 12 months, (c) have had their functions transferred to (i) another non-departmental public body and (ii) a democratically elected body, (d) have been renamed but continue to perform a similar role and (e) have been unchanged; if he will indicate in (c)(ii) the relevant successor body; what new non-departmental public bodies have been established since 1 May 1997; and how many non-departmental public bodies his Department currently is responsible for. [90674]
Mr. Kilfoyle:
Since 1 May 1997, Cabinet Office Ministers have abolished three NDPBs: the Citizen's Charter Panel of Advisers; the Deregulation Task Force; and the People's Panel Advisory Group. No Cabinet Office NDPB is due to be abolished over the next twelve months and none has had its functions transferred or has been renamed. A list of all NDPBs currently sponsored by the Cabinet Office is published on the Internet (www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/quango).
The Cabinet Office has set up three new NDPBs since 1 May 1997: the Better Regulation Task Force; the People's Panel Advisory Group; and the Security Vetting Appeals Panel. The People's Panel Advisory Group was only in existence for a short time and was abolished on 1 July 1999.
The Cabinet Office currently sponsors ten NDPBs, although the Minister for the Cabinet Office is also responsible for a COI-Sponsored NDPB and for seventeen NDPBs sponsored by the Duchy of Lancaster Office. The Government are committed to keeping the number of NDPBs to a minimum and to ensuring that those that remain are open, accountable and effective.
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