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Special Educational Needs

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children had statements of special educational needs by age in each year since 1995; and what percentage of the total school under 18 years population this represented. [119536]

Jacqui Smith: Information on the number of children with statements of special educational need (SEN) by age has been published centrally since 1997. The latest information available is as follows:

Age	1996	1997	1998	1999
Under 5	8,440	8,999	8,631	9,167
5-15	208,204	215,909	--	--
5-10	--	--	94,826	97,150
11-15	--	--	126,508	134,162
16-19	12,545	13,650	14,763	15,105

These figures relate to all children for whom LEAs maintain a statement including children not placed in schools. The table reflects the years in which the information was collected and a change in the age bands used to collect it from 1998.

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The percentage of the total under 18 school population with statements of SEN in each of the years 1995 to 1999 is 2.6 per cent., 2.8 per cent., 2.9 per cent. and 3.0 per cent. respectively.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children with statements of special educational needs were in designated special units within (a) primary schools up to and including year six and (b) secondary schools from year seven onwards in each year since 1995. [119537]

Jacqui Smith: Information on the number of children with statements of SEN in designated special units within primary schools and secondary schools is not collected centrally.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment which local authorities in England and Wales have (a) adopted and (b) implemented the form of assessment recommended in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority document "Supporting the Target Setting Process-Guidance for effective target setting for pupils with special educational needs". [119535]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected centrally.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) commissioned Durham University to undertake a monitoring exercise last summer to ascertain the extent to which the P scales, the assessment framework proposed in the publication 'Supporting the Target Setting Process--Guidance for effective target setting for pupils with special educational needs', are being used in schools. 313 schools, including 116 mainstream and 197 special schools, took part in the survey. The exercise was supported by the 63 local education authorities (LEAs) in which the schools are situated.

A further monitoring survey on the P scales planned for next summer will specifically examine the use made by LEAs of the P scales, as well as school take up and use.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what percentage of the primary schools in England and Wales have been placed on special measures in each year since 1995; [119540]

(2) what percentage of primary schools with local education authorities designated special needs units have been placed on special measures in each year since 1995 in England and Wales. [119534]

Ms Estelle Morris: The percentage of primary and maintained and non-maintained special schools which have been placed in special measures since 1995 is contained in the table. While there are some special schools which cater for pupils wholly of primary school age, or wholly of secondary school age, there are many others which cover age ranges bridging part or the whole of the primary and secondary phases. The attached table does not distinguish between special schools covering the wide number of possible different age ranges. The figures in the table represent the proportion of all primary and maintained and non-maintained special schools which were inspected by Ofsted during that academic year and deemed to be in need of special measures.

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Percentage

Academic Year	Primary	Specials
1994-95	0.20	0.50
1995-96	0.40	2
1996-97	0.80	3
1997-98	1	3
1998-99	0.80	1

Higher Education

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what information he has collated on admission to higher education institutions broken down by the nature of the educational establishment previously attended in each of the last five years. [119145]

Mr. Wicks: The information is given in the table, based on students gaining places on full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses through UCAS. Equivalent data for admissions to part-time undergraduate courses are not available.

UCAS UK-domiciled acceptances to higher education institutions by previous educational establishment

	Year of entry(20)
Accepted applicants	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999
Grammar School	16,935	17,048	18,643	18,954	19,285
Sixth Form Centre	3,574	3,800	2,720	2,732	2,913
Comprehensive	68,322	71,803	77,241	79,584	81,050
Other Secondary School	1,243	1,398	1,622	1,729	1,782
Independent School	29,441	30,006	31,342	30,602	30,910
Sixth Form College	23,787	25,182	29,978	29,548	29,829
Other FE/HE	72,466	68,871	81,809	75,561	73,019
Other	9,092	10,073	9,066	7,639	7,480
Not known	40,676	40,108	50,897	51,871	56,797
Total	265,536	268,289	303,318	298,220	303,065

(20) Figures for 1997 and later years include students applying for Art and Design courses which were included in the UCAS scheme for the first time in 1997.

Learning and Skills (Humberside)

Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what provision has been made for representatives of the Humber colleges to be members of the Humber Task Force overseeing the transition from TECs to learning and skills councils. [117832]

Mr. Wicks: The role of the Humber task group is not to oversee the transition of the TEC into the Learning and Skills Council but rather to collect information from current funding bodies (such as TECs, FEFC, and Local Education Authorities) on the range and volume of provision currently being funded in each area. The aim is to ensure that sufficient funds will be available in each area to at least maintain current levels of provision and to avoid disruption for learners resulting from the introduction of the new arrangements.

Since they are not funding bodies there is no requirement for a direct representative of Humber colleges on the Humber task group, although a college principal who is a chair of one of the four Local Learning Partnerships has been invited to join the task group.

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Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment in how many TEC areas in Yorkshire and Humberside local further education colleges are not directly represented on task forces overseeing the transition from TECs to learning and skills councils. [117833]

Mr. Wicks: There are nine TEC areas in Yorkshire and the Humber region. Four Learning and Skills Councils are planned for the region and there are, therefore, four task groups in the region. The role of these task groups is not to oversee the transition of the TECs to the Learning and Skills Council but rather to collect information from current funding bodies (such as TEC, FEFC, and Local Education Authorities) on the range and volume of provision currently being funded in each area. The aim is to ensure that sufficient funds will be available in each area to at least maintain current levels of provision and to avoid disruption for learners resulting from the introduction of the new arrangements.

Since they are not funding bodies there are no representatives of local colleges on any of the task groups in each region, although a college principal does sit on the South Yorkshire task group because of the wider remit that the group has identified to link LSC development with objective 1 status for South Yorkshire.

Waltham Forest LEA

Mr. Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what publication date has been set for the Ofsted report on the London Borough of Waltham Forest local education authority; and if HM Chief Inspector of Schools has power to publish Ofsted local education authority reports without consulting the local education authority concerned as to the publication date. [119408]

Ms Estelle Morris: This is a matter for HM Chief Inspector of Schools and I have therefore asked Chris Woodhead to write to the hon. Member and to place a copy of his letter in the Library.

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