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Nursery Provision (London)

Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what records are kept by her Department on

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the extent of early years nursery provision in each London borough for the last five years; and if she will publish such records. [28082]

Margaret Hodge: The Department collects data on the numbers of three and four-year-old children taking up free early years education places at (1) maintained nursery and primary schools, and (2) maintained early years settings (other than maintained nursery and primary schools), independent schools, and private and voluntary early years settings in England, that are registered with Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships, in each local education authority area in England. These data are collected each term throughout the year as part of the Department's Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.

The Department also collects data on the numbers of three and four-year-old children taking up early years education places in the spring term at (1) maintained nursery and primary schools in England, as part of its annual Schools Census data collection exercise, and (2) maintained early years settings (other than maintained nursery and primary schools), independent schools, private and voluntary early years settings in England, that are registered with Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships, as part of its annual Early Years Census data collection exercise.

Figures for 1997 to 2001 for LEA areas in England for three and four-year-old children in maintained nursery and primary schools were published in Statistical Bulletin 11–2001 "Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2001" which is available from the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics/ or the Library. In addition, figures for three and four year old children taking up free early years education places in maintained nursery and primary schools and maintained early years settings (other than maintained nursery and primary schools), independent schools, private and voluntary early years settings were published in a table alongside the bulletin on the Department's website.

Ministerial Transport

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she last used the railway service in connection with her official duties; what station she left from and what was the destination; and whether it is her intention to make greater use of the railways in future. [28102]

Estelle Morris: I last used the railway service on Thursday 6 December to travel from Paddington to Bristol. I use the network on a regular basis in connection with my official duties and for travel to and from my constituency.

All travel is conducted in accordance with the Ministerial Code and the accompanying guidance document, "Travel by Ministers".

Teachers' Pay

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is the pay entitlement of a teacher who has achieved the upper pay spine when changing schools. [28189]

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Mr. Timms: Crossing the threshold entitles a teacher to be paid on point 1 of the upper pay scale. That entitlement continues to apply when a teacher changes schools. Further progress on the upper pay scale will be on the basis of discretionary performance points awarded by individual governing bodies. The School Teachers' Review Body is considering whether such points should be portable, as we have proposed. Portability would be consistent with expecting all schools to take account of the same general criteria in awarding such points. It would also facilitate movement between schools.

Mr. Pickthall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she is taking to ensure consistency between schools in allocating upper pay spine awards. [28190]

Mr. Timms: Progress on the upper pay scale for classroom teachers will be on the basis of discretionary performance points awarded by governing bodies at individual schools. The Department sent guidance on school salary policies and performance points to schools last September. This said that points should reward substantial and sustained performance and contribution to the school that showed greater breadth and depth than the threshold standards. The guidance also made it clear that schools would have to interpret and develop these general criteria in the light of local circumstances and priorities.

Mr. Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what changes she plans to the head teachers' retirement package arrangements; and if she will make a statement. [29264]

Mr. Timms: £10 million of standards fund money was made available in each of 2000–01 and 2001–02 to support an early retirement scheme for head teachers. This was a two-year scheme aimed at raising the standard of leadership in schools. Although the financial support that this scheme provided will not continue beyond the end of this financial year, it will still be open to employers to grant early retirement to head teachers where they believe that doing so would be beneficial.

Rural Transport

Mr. Paterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a direct grant allocation to Shropshire county council to support the additional transport costs incurred by a rural county. [28332]

Mr. Timms: In 2002–03 Shropshire's Education SSA will increase by £6.88 million or 6.16 per cent. Shropshire will also benefit from an overall increase in Standards Fund grant of almost £160 million; and an increase of 2.75 per cent. in the direct grant for schools. We believe that this is a good settlement sufficient to cover all the cost pressures on Shropshire next year, including the additional transport costs incurred by a rural county.

However, we are currently working up a new funding system for introduction in 2003–04. As part of that work we are taking account of the costs associated with rural areas such as home to school transport.

School Expulsions

Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are in place to ensure that an expelled pupil is able to carry on in education; and what steps are taken if a pupil continues to disrupt. [28344]

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Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department's guidance to local education authorities is that ideally many permanently excluded pupils should rejoin a mainstream or special school within days or weeks of exclusion. Those permanently excluded pupils who are not re-integrated into a new school should be offered opportunities in Pupil Referral Units (PRU), FE colleges and or on work experience. Rapid re-integration is particularly important for excluded primary pupils and I expect that most of them would be re-integrated within one term. Conversely, for pupils approaching the end of compulsory schooling, a return to school may be unrealistic and in those cases alternative provision like a PRU or FE college is more appropriate.

The guidance does not direct that alternative provision must be found immediately for a permanently excluded child. The Discipline Committee must meet to review the decision no later than 15 school days after notification of the exclusion. During this time the guidance states that the head teacher should plan for the child's continued education. This can be by setting and marking work for the child to do at home. Where a parent lodges an appeal, I expect the school and LEA to work together to secure the pupil's on-going education. Following an unsuccessful appeal, reintegration into a school or PRU may take some time.

Reintegration Panels are responsible for co-ordinating services for excluded pupils. They must draw up an individual re-integration plan for each excluded child. This plan should be in place within a month of the governors upholding the exclusion and it is reviewed on a monthly basis. It should include a target date for return to school, once the school to which the child will return has been identified.

Pupils who continue to be disruptive may be excluded from their new school or, as a last resort, from a Pupil Referral Unit. However, we now have a network of Learning Support Units in schools and Pupil Referral Units to support our drive to tackle poor behaviour and continue to raise standards in schools.

Special Educational Needs

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in the Uxbridge constituency have been statemented in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each of the last five years. [28487]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The available data are shown in the table:

Number of pupils with statements of SEN in the Uxbridge constituency—position in January each year

	Primary schools	Secondary schools
2001	122	163
2000	115	174
1999	100	170
1998	105	175
1997	107	180

Source:

Annual Schools Census

Mr. Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average percentage of special needs children is in (a) all schools in England and (b) faith schools in England. [28609]

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Mr. Ivan Lewis: The available information is shown in the table:

Maintained primary and secondary schools: percentage of pupils with Special Educational Needs—as at January 2000Percentage

	All schools	Faith schools
SEN pupils with statements	2.0	1.5
SEN pupils without statements	18.7	17.1

Source:

Annual Schools Census

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