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Class Sizes
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of pupils at (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2, (c) Key Stage 3, (d) Key Stage 4 and (e) in school sixth forms were in classes of 31 or more in (i) January 1997 and (ii) January 2000; and what estimate he has made of the percentage in each case who will be in classes of 31 or more in September 2000. [131678]
Ms Estelle Morris: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information is shown in the tables.
Estimates of class sizes in September for older children are not available.
| Key stage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | Mixed | Total primary |
| 2000 | 11.0 | 38.2 | 21.2 | 26.0 | 26.5 |
| 1997 | 29.0 | 37.9 | 27.4 | 29.8 | 33.4 |
| Year | Mainly under 14 | Mainly 14 and 15 | 16 or older | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 14.9 | 7.1 | 0.9 | 11.3 |
| 1997 | 11.2 | 5.7 | 1.0 | 8.7 |
Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level
Qualifications
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when the finalised specifications for the new Advanced Subsidiary and
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Advanced level qualifications to be introduced for teaching from September 2000 were made available to teachers. [131691]
Mr. Wicks: The finalised specifications for the new GCE Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced level qualifications to be introduced for teaching from September 2000 have been available to schools and colleges since January 2000. Copies of these documents have been placed on the awarding bodies' websites. In addition, the awarding bodies produced and issued hard copies of the specifications to all schools and colleges offering these qualifications.
Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in (a) special and (b) mainstream schools; and what guidance he is giving to teachers in mainstream schools regarding the handling of challenging behaviour by children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. [131717]
Jacqui Smith: My Department does not collect statistics identifying children with special educational needs by specific categories. The total special needs population was shown as 1,700,000 on the last full return in 1999--just over 20 per cent. of the total school population.
This Government have demonstrated their commitment to improving education for all children with special needs. Schools are educating children with a wide range of needs, and so need a range of programmes and advice. We are supporting schools with a broad package of measures, including the SEN Programme of Action, the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and our Excellence in Cities programme.
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To improve the education for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties in particular, this year we have:
- provided £140 million through the Social Inclusion Pupil Support programme--guidance to support this programme, on pupil attendance, behaviour, exclusion and re-integration, was issued in July 1999;
- developed On-Site Learning Support Units. We will increase the number of these units to over 1,000 in mainstream schools in England within two years. To help meet this target we announced earlier this year that £28 million is being provided to create a further 360 units in secondary schools and £8 million to pilot 60 units in primary schools. These units are school-based centres for pupils at risk of exclusion owing to behavioural problems; they provide tailored teaching and support programmes.
- produced a revised SEN Code of Practice and guidance on thresholds to simplify, and to support better, teachers' assessment of a child's needs and their planning of appropriate strategies to address these. Both documents are currently out for consultation;
- issued to all schools the Index for Inclusion produced by the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education. This practical, self review tool will help all schools develop their policies for addressing barriers to participation pupils face, including those with emotional and behavioural difficulties;
- consulted on additional guidance on promoting positive handling strategies for pupils with severe behavioural difficulties. This guidance will be issued in the autumn, to supplement existing guidance on Section 550A of the Education Act 1996.
We have also provided guidance on the wider issue of dealing with violent or very disruptive pupils. We do not expect teachers to keep troublemakers in the classroom at any cost, and have written to all headteachers so that they know they have our full support if they have to exclude such pupils permanently. The Secretary of State also announced at the National Association of Headteachers' conference on 1 June that he would be changing the guidance to exclusion appeal panels to indicate that where there has been violence or severe threat of violence it is inappropriate for a permanently excluded child to be re-instated to the same school.
Criminal Offences (School Premises)
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many (a) pupils, (b) teachers and (c) members of non-teaching staff have been the victims of (i) assaults and (ii) other criminal offences on school premises in each of the last 10 years. [131718]
Jacqui Smith: This information is not collected centrally. We have taken a range of measures to create safe and secure environments for pupils and staff. Since 1997-98, we have made specific grants to local education authorities in England to support expenditure of £22 million annually on school security measures. We have also published guidance, such as "School Security: Dealing with Troublemakers", produced with the Home Office.
Hawksworth Hall
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what investigations his
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Department has conducted into allegations of child abuse at Hawksworth Hall; what the results of the investigations were; and what actions he proposes to take. [131968]
Jacqui Smith: The allegations of abuse at Hawksworth Hall were thoroughly investigated by the police and by child protection services in 1995. They concluded that there was not sufficient evidence for criminal prosecution. My Department subsequently considered the allegations, and as a result one former care worker was barred from working in relevant employment and placed on the Department's List 99.
We feel there are no grounds for any further action in the case of Hawksworth Hall, which closed in 1998. We are however fully committed to measures to safeguard children's welfare and protect them from unsuitable people. The Government recently published "Learning the Lessons," its response to "Lost in Care:" the Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry into the Abuse of Children in the former county council areas of Gwynedd and Clwyd since 1974. This sets out many of the measures being taken to protect the welfare of children in residential schools, or in the care of local authorities.
The Protection of Children Act 1999 makes provision for a new list of people who are unsuitable to work with children to be kept by the Secretary of State for Health, and further measures to protect children from unsuitable people are proposed in the Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill.
Ethnic Minorities
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much section 11 funding has been allocated to each of the London borough councils in the current financial year. [132074]
Jacqui Smith: The education element of the Home Office's Section 11 Grant scheme ceased on 31 March 1999. It was replaced by a new grant, the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant, administered by my Department. For 2000-01 £162.5 million will be available nationally to improve the attainment of ethnic minority, Traveller and refugee pupils. This represents an increase of 7 per cent. on the amount available for the same purposes in 1999-2000. The details requested are set out in the table. They include, separately, allocations under the Adult Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant which was also previously funded under Section 11.
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