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Renewable Energy Education
Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to promote increased access to training and development in renewable energy-related disciplines in higher education. [7358]
Margaret Hodge: Higher education institutions are autonomous organisations which design and determine their own courses, in response to market forces. A substantial number of higher education institutions are offering a range of courses in renewable energy-related disciplines in the current academic year. The Government are keen to promote an interest in science and technology generally. Science Year (September 2001 to August 2002) will raise the profile of science and increase pupil engagement with science, particularly in the 10–19 age range. It aims to boost the take-up of science subjects post-16.
Post-16 Education
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the role is of the Learning and Skills Council in the provision of post-16 education. [8151]
Margaret Hodge: The role of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is to plan, fund, monitor and improve the quality of post-16 learning up to higher education. We expect the LSC to encourage more young people to stay in learning; increase demand for learning among adults; and improve the skills of the work force. We also expect it to drive up standards in teaching, learning and training and to build equality of opportunity into everything it does.
Sixth-forms (Funding)
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what plans she has to review the funding formula for sixth-forms to reflect local needs; [8166]
- (2) if she will make a statement on the rejection of the area cost adjustment formula for funding school sixth-forms; [8168]
(3) what steps her Department is taking to ensure no school will lose funding when the Learning and Skills Council assumes control of sixth-form resources. [8167]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: These are matters for the Learning and Skills Council. I have therefore asked John Harwood, the Council's chief executive, to write to the hon. Member with the information requested and to place a copy of his reply in the Library.
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many separate funding streams are available to secondary schools with sixth-forms; and if she will make a statement. [8981]
Mr. Timms: All maintained schools, including schools with sixth-forms, receive almost all their public funding from their local education authority. The bulk of such funding—including support from the school standards grant—is delegated to a school through the authority's fair funding scheme. Schools also receive funding, via their local education authority, under the standards fund, and the teachers threshold pay grant. Individual schools may also receive support from a wide range of other sources, including the national lottery, and private sector contributions.
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From 2002–03, funding for school sixth-forms will be allocated to local education authorities by the Learning and Skills Council. Schools with sixth-forms will continue to receive this funding through their local education authority's fair funding scheme.
After-school Clubs
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to allow schools to run after-school clubs on their premises; and if she will make a statement. [8173]
Mr. Timms: Through the White Paper "Schools achieving success", launched in September, we gave our intention to legislate to enable school governors to run a wide range of family and community facilities and services, including child care.
Under existing legislation, school governors are able to run study support (out of school hours learning) activities and this will not be affected by the proposed changes.
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if she will include information on acquired brain injury in new guidance on the education of sick children; [8326]
- (2) if she will include within guidance for health professionals accompanying the Special Educational Needs code of practice, material on the particular SEN needs likely to arise in respect of acquired brain injury. [8327]
Mr. Timms: We will be including information on acquired brain injury (ABI) in the joint Department for Education and Skills/Department of Health guidance on "Access to Education for Children and Young People with Medical Needs", which will be published on 1 November 2001.
The importance of close liaison between education and health services to all issues that may affect learning for children and young people with ABI will also be highlighted in the SEN toolkit to be published alongside the SEN code of practice.
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children attending (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have SEN statements, broken down by (i) Church of England, (ii) Catholic, (iii) Jewish, (iv) Muslim and (v) Sikh schools. [8396]
Mr. Timms: The latest year for which we have complete special educational needs data is January 2000.
Special educational needs data for January 2001 are known to be incomplete.
(4) No schools of this type
(5) Includes mixed denominational schools, other christian faith schools and schools with no religious character
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Illiteracy
Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the Government's policies for combating illiteracy in (a) Wales and (b) England. [8343]
John Healey: The Government are fully committed to helping the estimated one in five adults who do not have adequate literacy skills. The Prime Minister launched "Skills for Life", the national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy in England on 1 March. New national standards, a core curriculum for literacy and numeracy, teacher training and national tests in literacy and numeracy are all now available nationally after a successful pilot. A national promotional campaign is currently boosting demand. We are working across Government and with key partner organisations to ensure that all those who can help adults with literacy and numeracy skills needs are able to do so. Our target is that 750,000 adults improve their literacy and numeracy by 2004. More than 70,000 adults have already gained literacy and numeracy qualifications since April 2001.
Policy for adult literacy in Wales is a matter for the Welsh Assembly.
Free School Meals
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children attending (a) primary and (b) secondary faith schools are eligible for free school meals, broken down by (i) Church of England, (ii) Catholic, (iii) Jewish, (iv) Muslim and (v) Sikh schools. [8398]
Mr. Timms: The information requested is shown in the table.
| Maintained primary schools | Maintained secondary schools | |
|---|---|---|
| Church of England | 11.5 | 11.4 |
| Roman Catholic | 16.1 | 15.6 |
| Jewish | 4.0 | 6.2 |
| Muslim | 30.6 | (6)— |
| Sikh | 5.6 | 6.5 |
| Other(7) | 19.5 | 16.1 |
(6) No schools of this type
(7) Includes mixed denominational schools, other christian faith schools and schools with no religious character
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of children attending (a) language, (b) sports, (c) technology and (d) arts specialist schools are eligible for free school meals. [8397]
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Mr. Timms: The available information is shown in the table.
| Schools designated as specialist as at September 2001 | |
|---|---|
| Language specialist schools | 10.5 |
| Sports specialist schools | 17.8 |
| Technology specialist schools | 14.4 |
| Arts specialist schools | 18.5 |
Fast-track Scheme
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many people have accepted places on the fast-track scheme; and how many of them started their course; [8399]
- (2) how many fast-track trainees started courses in September; and what subjects they are being trained to teach. [8403]
Mr. Timms: One hundred and twenty people accepted places on the fast-track teaching programme in this its first year. Nine have deferred taking up their places until autumn 2002. One hundred and eleven started a year of enhanced initial teacher training at nine of England's best ITT providers in September. They are training in the following areas:
| Number | |
|---|---|
| Primary | 27 |
| Secondary | |
| English | 23 |
| Geography | 10 |
| History | 11 |
| Information and Communications Technology | 1 |
| Modern Foreign Languages | 10 |
| Mathematics | 6 |
| Music | 3 |
| Science | 19 |
| Withdrawn since starting training | 1 |
| Total | 111 |
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