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Special Educational Needs
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the change in incidence of special needs children with statements between 1997 and 2001 as a proportion of pupils on roll at all schools. [5372]
Mr. Timms: Since 1997 the percentage of children with statements of special educational need has increased from 2.9 per cent. in January 1997 to 3.1 per cent. in January 2001. This continues an increase from earlier years: for example, the proportion of statemented pupils was 2.6 per cent. in 1995. We believe that these increases reflect improved early identification measures, and improved procedures, in particular the introduction of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Needs in 1994.
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Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the factors underlying the change in the incidence of special educational needs children without statement from 1997 to 2001 as a proportion of pupils at all schools. [5373]
Mr. Timms: Since 1997 the percentage of children with identified special educational needs without a statement has increased from 15.1 per cent. in January 1997 to 18.8 per cent. in January 2001. We believe that this increase reflects improved early identification measures, and improved procedures, in particular the introduction of the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice on the Identification and Assessment of Special Needs in 1994.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many appeals were heard by the Special Educational Needs Tribunal; and how many were successful in 1999–2000. [5377]
Mr. Timms: The number of appeals heard by the Special Educational Needs Tribunal in 1999–2000 was 1,196. Of these some 931 were successful, in whole or in part.
Further Education
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on trends in enrolment to further education. [3184]
John Healey [holding answer 11 July 2001]: The number of students enrolled in FE colleges and on further education provision in other institutions in 1999–2000 was 4,274,000. This compares with a peak of 4,463,000 in 1996–97, when inappropriate franchising arrangements, some of which gave rise to provision of dubious worth, had caused the participation figures to increase sharply and unsustainably. We are committed to increasing real participation in further education and we are providing real terms increases in further education funding to achieve this.
Lecturers
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many further education lecturers have left the profession in each of the last 10 years. [2996]
John Healey [holding answer 9 July 2001]: Full-time lecturers in the further education (FE) sector in England at March each year who were no longer employed as full-time in the FE sector one year later, in either England or Wales, in the financial years 1989–90 to 1998–99 (the last year for which records are available) are as follows:
| Year | Number of FE leavers |
|---|---|
| 1998–99 | 3,955 |
| 1997–98 | 7,115 |
| 1996–97 | 6,808 |
| 1995–96 | 5,953 |
| 1994–95 | 4,943 |
| 1993–94 | 5,243 |
| 1992–93(18) | 5,081 |
| 1991–92(18) | 4,525 |
| 1990–91(18) | 5,088 |
| 1989–90(18) | 4,810 |
(18) Excludes sixth-form colleges
(19) Full-time FE lecturers who became part-time FE lecturers are counted as leavers.
Source:
The DfES Database of Teacher Records. The most recent data available are for 31 March 1999.
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Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information she has collated regarding vacancy rates in lecturer/senior lecturer grades over the last five years, in each university. [4572]
Margaret Hodge [answer 18 July 2001]: The information is not held centrally. Individual universities, as employers, are responsible for monitoring their own vacancies.
Schools (Investment)
Mr. Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on her plans for public investment in schools. [3355]
Mr. Timms: Our proposals mean that the recurrent funding for schools in England will have risen by £9.5 billion between 1997–98 and 2003–04. On capital funding, in 2000–01 we invested over £2 billion in school buildings. This is three times the £693 million invested in 1996–97. In addition, we are investing £8.5 billion in our school buildings over the Spending Review period. We are determined to continue to improve schools through sustained investment and reform.
Individual Learning Accounts
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the number of individual learning accounts (a) opened and (b) used by (i) gender, (ii) age and (iii) occupation. [4414]
John Healey [holding answer 17 July 2001]: The figures requested for England up to the period 29 June 2001 are set out in the following tables:
| By gender | Accounts open | Accounts used |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 709,728 | 310,480 |
| Male | 523,528 | 229,500 |
| Unknown | 3,786 | 2,171 |
| Total | 1,237,042 | 542,151 |
| By age | Accounts open | Accounts used |
|---|---|---|
| 19–30 | 371,594 | 151,895 |
| 31–40 | 367,395 | 159,362 |
| 41–50 | 261,886 | 116,387 |
| 51–60 | 158,532 | 74,115 |
| 60+ | 77,635 | 40,392 |
| Total | 1,237,042 | 542,151 |
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Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individual learning accounts have been opened under the national framework since June 2000. [4447]
John Healey [holding answer 17 July 2001]: There have been 1,237,042 individual learning accounts opened under the national framework in England up to 29 June 2001.
Vandalism (Schools)
Mr. Blizzard: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to reduce the amount of vandalism to school premises committed out of school hours. [4451]
Mr. Timms: Schools are often most vulnerable to attack when they are closed, and acts of vandalism can have a seriously demoralising effect on schools, with the costs of removing graffiti or replacing broken windows being a drain on resources.
My Department makes specific funding available to local education authorities, through the Standards Fund, to support school security improvements at maintained schools in their areas. This amounts to £22 million per year. The aim of the grant, which was introduced in 1997–98, is not only to make schools safer environments for staff and pupils, which must be the main priority, but also to help reduce the incidence and associated costs of crime in schools. Local education authorities have reported significant reductions in vandalism where schools have had improvements funded from the grant.
We have also produced guidance on reducing crime in schools, such as the booklet "Improving School Security", and the video "Can You See What They See?" A school security website has been established.
PFI/PPP
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) PFI and (b) PPP contracts have been agreed by her Department in the last five years; how many have been satisfactorily completed; and in how many has compensation been (i) paid and (ii) claimed for performance failure. [4603]
Mr. Timms: In the last five years, a total of 56 schools PFI projects have been approved by this Department. Of these, 31 have so far signed contracts. The remaining 25 projects are working towards contract signature following approval by DfES and the Treasury chaired Project Review Group.
In addition, 12 PPP projects, which were developed with support from New Deal for Schools funding, have reached contract signature.
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Local authorities are generally responsible for monitoring the performance of schools PFI and PPP contracts.
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