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External Advisers
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of schools
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in England and Wales have (a) used and (b) booked an appointment to use before the end of the autumn term, the services of an accredited external adviser in establishing the head teacher's objectives for the academic year 2000-01. [140517]
Ms Estelle Morris: 67 per cent. of eligible schools in England have requested the services of an accredited external adviser. 17 per cent. of the total of eligible schools have to date used the services of an adviser and 33 per cent. of the total have confirmed visits with an adviser.
The data relate to England because the statutory performance management arrangements for heads apply only to schools in England.
New Technologies in Schools
Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will provide a breakdown of how the £1 billion for new technologies in schools will be spent. [140434]
Mr. Wills: The £1 billion programme will be used to support the enrichment of schools' ICT facilities. Most of this will be channelled through the Standards Fund, including £245 million in 2001-02 (already announced as the final year of our £657 million investment in ICT in schools between 1998 and 2002) plus £710 million of new funding between 2002 and 2004.
A further £155 million will be made available for centrally funded projects between 2002 and 2004. Details of these will be announced in due course.
Teenage Pregnancy
Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many female pupils were excluded from school because of pregnancy in England between 1980 to 2000; and if he will make a statement; [140542]
- (2) if he will list the 10 education authorities with (a) the highest and (b) the lowest percentage rates of school exclusions because of pregnancy; and if he will make a statement. [140483]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 27 November 2000]: The detailed information requested by my hon. Friend is not held centrally by the Department. The latest information on permanent exclusions will be published later this week in a Statistical Bulletin, a copy of which will be placed in the Library.
The DfEE issued guidance in 1999 to all local education authorities and schools, which made it clear that pregnancy on its own was not a reason for exclusion from school.
In addition to our drive to cut truancy and school exclusions, we are also working to cut teenage pregnancy rates and to reduce the social exclusion often experienced by teenage parents and their children. We are issuing some guidance to help schools to support teenage parents in school. We are also funding reintegration work in selected LEAs to help girls back in to education after they have had their baby.
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Redeploying Redundancies
Mr. Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will review the procedures for redundancy and redeployment of teachers in schools with falling school rolls. [140604]
Ms Estelle Morris: Adequate arrangements already exist to ensure that local education authorities can minimise the effect of redundancies by redeploying teaching staff subject to the consent of schools with vacancies.
School Websites
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) what help is available from his Department for those schools which wish to create their own website; [140300]
- (2) how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have a website. [140295]
Mr. Wills [holding answer 27 November 2000]: We are supporting £657 million of expenditure on ICT by schools between 1998 and 2002, with a further £710 million to follow between 2002 and 2004. This funding is intended to help schools to achieve the objectives agreed with their local education authority and set out in their ICT development plan. We would expect these plans to address measures for using ICT to improve home-school links, including the development of school websites. The Department recently revised and reissued the Superhighway Safety Guide which has a section entitled, "Setting up your own website" which not only deals with practical internet safety measures, but advises on other issues such as choosing domain names, obtaining web space and what a school may wish to include. This information is available on-line and in printed form. Illustrations of good practice are also available on the BECTa website.
The percentage of schools with websites was published in the Statistics of Education--Survey of Information and Communications Technology in Schools 2000, the figures are: 34 per cent. of primary, 62 per cent. of secondary and 31 per cent. of special schools.
Higher Education Funding
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will break down the increase in publicly planned funding for higher education in each of the next three years by (a) fees from students, (b) fees from public funding, (c) earmarked capital funding, (d) funding for widening participation, (e) grants to the Teacher Training Agency and (f) grants to HEFCE. [140362]
Mr. Wicks [holding answer 27 November 2000]: Analysis of the funding for the Higher Education Funding Council for England and the Teacher Training Agency will be given in the annual grant letters which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment expects to issue shortly.
Out-of-School Activities
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will exempt drama, dance and singing coaches employed by Stagecoach Theatre Arts
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from the provisions of the Children Act 1989 requiring Nursery Care Certificate qualifications for those engaged with children aged between four and 16 in out-of-school activities. [140491]
Ms Hodge: The Government are presently reforming the system for regulating child care in England, bringing in new national standards to be regulated by a new Early Years Directorate in Ofsted. We recognise the potential impact of these changes on activity-based organisations such as Stagecoach whose primary purpose is not child care. The Government are therefore considering whether it is appropriate to bring such organisations under the new arrangements. We will take full account of all the concerns raised when we reach a decision.
Teacher Assessment
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement about the duties of external assessors in dealing with teachers' threshold applications, indicating the statutory basis of his powers to lay down these duties. [140615]
Ms Estelle Morris: On 22 November my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State laid an Order (SI 2000/3106) under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act 1991 to give statutory force to the new pay arrangements entailing assessment at a performance threshold. The Order sets out the duties of external assessors for which my right hon. Friend's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Mr. Hope) on 22 November 2000, Official Report, column 244W refers.
Mr. Win Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proposals he has to deal with appeals from teachers who have been unsuccessful in making a threshold application for performance-related pay. [140616]
Ms Estelle Morris: On 22 November my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State laid an Order (SI 2000/3106) under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Act 1991 to give statutory force to the new pay arrangements entailing assessment at a performance threshold. The Order contains provisions for teachers who continue to believe that they have been wrongly assessed as not meeting the threshold standards to apply to have the decision reviewed by a review officer. My right hon. Friend's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Corby (Mr. Hope) on 22 November 2000, Official Report, column 244W refers to this.
Autism
Mrs. Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) when he plans to hold centrally information on the number of children under the age of 10 years, by local authority area, who have been diagnosed with autism in each year since 1990; [140744]
- (2) what estimate he has made of the number of sufferers of autism (a) below and (b) over the age of 18 years in the years (i) 1990 and (ii) 1995; [140745]
(3) what research his Department has carried out in the last 10 years into the principles, methods and effectiveness of the Higashi school for autistic children in Boston, USA. [140748]
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Jacqui Smith: The diagnosis of autism and estimates of the prevalence of the condition are medical matters and questions on these issues should be directed to the Secretary of State for Health. Figures on the numbers of children identified as having special educational needs arising from autism are not held centrally.
My Department has not funded any research into the Higashi school in Boston, USA in the last 10 years, but did publish a research literature review which recorded two studies completed at the Higashi school, Boston. "Educational Interventions for Children with Autism: A Literature Review of Recent and Current Research; Jordan, Jones and Murray, 1998." A copy is in the Library.
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