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Staff Numbers

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people were employed in her Department in each of the last four years. [23794]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office on 18 December 2001, Official Report, column 256W.

Ritalin

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimates he has made of the number of prescriptions issued for Ritalin for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder among children with a statement of special educational needs attending schools in the Buckingham constituency. [23735]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Estimates are not made centrally of the number of children with statements who have prescriptions for Ritalin for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Class Sizes

Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have (a) to continue the restriction on class sizes for infant schools and (b) to fund the class size initiative in the long term. [23907]

John Healey: Since September 2001 it has been a statutory responsibility for schools and local education authorities to limit the size of infant classes for five, six and seven-year-olds taught by one teacher to no more than 30.

Class size grant will be paid to local education authorities as a ring-fenced grant through the Standards Fund in 2001–02 and 2002–03. Funding levels for 2003–04 will be decided in the Spending Review 2002.

Assaults on Teachers

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what initiatives the Government are undertaking to reduce the incidence of abuse by parents against teachers. [23974]

8 Jan 2002 : Column: 719W

Mr. Timms: Legal remedies already exist to combat abuse by parents and others against teachers. These include injunctions, and prosecution for criminal damage, common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The Government have made a specific grant for school security available to all local education authorities in England since 1998. This could be used to support personal safety training for teachers and others to protect themselves from assaults. The Department has consulted on extending the use of parenting orders to situations where children manifest poor behaviour in school, and where parents need to play more of a role in setting boundaries for them. We are currently considering the responses. The relevant authorities in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland are responsible for drawing up their own education policies.

Early Years Provision (Staffordshire)

Mrs. Dean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many free nursery places were not taken up in Staffordshire in the 2000–01 academic year; [24061]

(2) what representations she has received from Staffordshire on early years development funding in this financial year; and if she will make a statement. [24060]

Margaret Hodge: In 2000–01 financial year Staffordshire spent all the funding made available to them by the DfES for the provision of free early education places for three-year-olds. They were initially allocated £225,040 to provide 194 free early education places for three-year-olds. However, a further £172,000 was made available so that by spring 2001 they were able to fund 511 early education places for three-year-olds.

In 2001–02 Staffordshire were initially allocated £1,344,816 of funding to provide 1,132 places. Officials at Staffordshire local education authority wrote to the Department after this allocation requesting further funding be made available to Staffordshire to provide more free, early education places for three-year-olds. Funding has recently been increased by £226,000 and by the spring term 2002 Staffordshire will be able to fund 2,066 places.

Exceptionally Able Children

Mr. Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on ensuring that individual schools have resources to provide for the needs of exceptionally able children; and if she will make a statement. [24075]

Mr. Timms: Schools within Excellence in Cities areas and Excellence Clusters receive specific grant for the gifted and talented strand of those initiatives. Local education authorities and education action zones also receive specific funding for our national summer schools programme; otherwise, we look to schools and local education authorities to meet the costs of educating exceptionally able pupils from their general budgets. From next summer, the Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth will provide a range of opportunities for such pupils and their teachers. Several resources that benefit gifted and talented pupils more generally are already in place.

8 Jan 2002 : Column: 720W

Basic Needs Assessment (Surrey)

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what date she will send her formal response to Surrey's basic needs assessment application. [24119]

Mr. Timms: Decisions on all basic need applications were due to be notified to local education authorities on Wednesday, 19 December 2001.

F40

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will meet representatives of the F40 group to discuss (a) the provision of an interim financial award for F40 authorities and (b) F40 proposals for funding from 2003–04 onwards. [24261]

Mr. Timms: The overall local government finance settlement for 2002–03 is a good one for education: over £1.3 billion extra in Education Standard Spending Assessments (SSAs); a further increase in Standards Fund grant of almost £160 million; and an increase in the direct grant for schools of 2.75 per cent. In the context of this settlement, there is less need for special grant support from Government than there was in 2001–02. I will be meeting a group of representatives of the F40 group in the spring to discuss the new funding system for 2003–04.

Citizenship Lessons

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what funds have been allocated for training qualified teachers to teach citizenship lessons in secondary schools; [24267]

(2) how many teachers are being trained to teach citizenship lessons; and how many teachers will be qualified to teach citizenship lessons in September 2002. [24268]

Mr. Timms: A total of £27 million was made available through the Standards Fund directly to schools to prepare for implementing Citizenship and Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) between 2000–01 (£12 million) and 2001–02 (£15 million). With local education authority matched funding, schools are able to spend this in the way that best meets their needs, including spending on teachers' professional development, for example on courses run by citizenship organisations.

167 teacher training places were made available by the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) at the beginning of the 2001–02 academic year. Of this, 147 trainees are currently undertaking the one year programme to become citizenship teachers. On successfully completing their course, they will be able to take up a teaching post in September 2002. There are likely to be in excess of 150 trainee places available next year. Many existing teachers are, of course, already teaching aspects of citizenship through other subjects.

Special Grants Allocation

Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the special grants allocation for schools is to continue next year. [24281]

8 Jan 2002 : Column: 721W

Mr. Timms: Yes. School Standards Grant (SSG) will continue in 2002–03. SSG rates for next year will be as follows:

Pupils	£
Primary
Up to 100	7,200
101–200	13,900
201–400	24,700
401–600	30,900
601+	49,400
Secondary
Up to 600	59,600
601–1,200	72,000
1201+	84,300
Special
Up to 100	20,600
101+	28,800

SSG will continue in 2003–04, uprated by a further 2.75 per cent.

Student Finance

Mr. David Atkinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects her review of student finance to be completed; and if she will make a statement. [24407]

Margaret Hodge: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State expects to announce the outcome of the review this year.

Key Stage Results

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she will publish the findings of her inquiry into the release of the 2001 Key Stage results. [24436]

Mr. Timms: Further to the reply I gave on 27 November 2001, Official Report, column 782W, a statement will be made on the outcome of the inquiry before the end of January.

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