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EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
Beechwood School/Corby Community College
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he expects (a) Beechwood School, Slough and (b) Corby Community College to be able to return to a five day teaching week. [134347]
Ms Estelle Morris: John Christie, Chief Education Officer for Slough Local Education Authority, confirmed to DfEE officials on 25 October that Beechwood School would return to a full five-day teaching week on Monday 30 October. This has now happened.
Officials within my Department made it absolutely clear that Corby Community College should return to a full teaching week as soon as possible. DfEE officials from my Department and the Teacher Training Agency have been in close touch with both the school and Northamptonshire LEA to offer urgent practical support for recruiting the additional teaching staff they need. The target date for reverting to a normal week was November 13. The school is now operating normally.
In each case, officials from my Department have worked with the school and LEA to find urgent solutions to return the school to normal working and to provide pupils with their full learning entitlement.
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Learning and Skills Councils
Mr. Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what will be (a) the total cost of (i) setting up and (ii) running the learning and skills councils and (b) the annual cost of the salaries of the directors; and if he will make a statement. [137002]
Mr. Wicks [holding answer 8 November 2000]: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State wrote to the Learning and Skills Council on 9 November to set out the Government's remit for the Council for the next three years. He will shortly send a further letter to the Council that will set out details of its budgets for the year 2001-02. This letter will be placed in the Library of the House and I shall answer the hon. Member's question as soon as possible thereafter.
Departmental Initiatives
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what was the total amount of revenue and capital resources spent by his Department on (a) education action zones, (b) Excellence in Cities, (c) Sure Start and (d) Fresh Start in each of the years (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99 and (iii) 1999-2000. [138850]
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 17 November 2000]: The total amount of revenue and capital resources spent by this Department on (a) Education Action Zones, (b) Excellence in Cities (c) Sure Start (d) and Fresh Start in each of the years (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99 and (iii) 1999-2000, reflects the fact that these programmes were launched from January 1998 onwards. There was no expenditure on these programmes in 1997-98.
The table sets out expenditure for 1998-99 and 1999-2000. The Fresh Start support programme was announced in March 2000 and there is no expenditure before the current financial year. The table also sets out estimated expenditure for this year.
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Fresh Start
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on progress with the Fresh Start Initiative. [139777]
Ms Estelle Morris: The Government are committed to preventing schools from failing, and turning round those that do as quickly as possible. There are now under 380 schools on special measures compared with 515 in 1998. Over 600 schools have been turned round since 1997. The average turn-round time currently averages 18 months, compared to 25 months in 1997.
Over 100 schools in special measures have closed, and the pupils been educated elsewhere. Where it proves impossible to turn a school round in a reasonable time, closure should be the preferred option. In exceptional circumstances, where closure is not feasible, the local education authority may consider a Fresh Start, closing the existing school and opening a new school on the same site. This is a difficult course, and should be reserved for the hardest cases. Twenty five schools have been "Fresh Started". All were causing concern and the majority had been on special measures for over two years.
We have built on the experience of the early Fresh Starts. We are now providing targeted capital and recurrent funding, and professional support. We will not provide funds or support unless the Fresh Start process planned and supported by the local education authority, and there is a strong likelihood of success.
Fresh Start schools are new and fragile, and there are no quick fixes. They will be treated in the same way as other schools on special measures, including termly monitoring by Ofsted. They need to focus on raising the achievement of their pupils. We expect all Fresh Start secondary schools to achieve the minimum standard of 15 per cent. of pupils achieving five GCSEs at grades A 1 -C within three years of opening.
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Special Schools (Closures)
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many special schools have closed since 1 May 1997. [139295]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 20 November 2000]: Some 130 special schools have closed since 1 May 1997. This includes at least 11 special schools whose closure was approved before that date. It also includes 15 schools whose closure has been approved but has not yet taken place. Twenty-two of these schools were failing schools.
The closure of special schools is often part of a larger reorganisation of provision for children with special educational needs, which may consist of the opening of other special schools, or the establishment of special units within mainstream schools. The pupils from a closing special school will transfer to another school which can meet their needs--whether that be another special school, a special unit or appropriately supported in a mainstream school.
In January there were 93,018 pupils in such schools; in January 2000 there were 91,708, a reduction of 1.4 per cent.
Since 1 September 1999, proposals for opening, closing or making alterations to schools have been determined by local School Organisation Committees rather than by the Secretary of State. These committees are made up of representatives of the local education authority, local primary, secondary and special schools and others.
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