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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.
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.
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 200102 and 200203. Funding levels for 200304 will be decided in the Spending Review 2002.
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.
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 200001 academic year; [24061]
Margaret Hodge: In 200001 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 200102 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.
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
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.
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 200304 onwards. [24261]
Mr. Timms: The overall local government finance settlement for 200203 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 200102. I will be meeting a group of representatives of the F40 group in the spring to discuss the new funding system for 200304.
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]
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 200001 (£12 million) and 200102 (£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 200102 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.
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 200203. SSG rates for next year will be as follows:
Pupils | £ |
---|---|
Primary | |
Up to 100 | 7,200 |
101200 | 13,900 |
201400 | 24,700 |
401600 | 30,900 |
601+ | 49,400 |
Secondary | |
Up to 600 | 59,600 |
6011,200 | 72,000 |
1201+ | 84,300 |
Special | |
Up to 100 | 20,600 |
101+ | 28,800 |
SSG will continue in 200304, uprated by a further 2.75 per cent.
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.
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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