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Faith Schools
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in (a) each metropolitan district council area and (b) England receive their full-time education in (i) Roman Catholic, (ii) Church of England, (iii) Jewish and (iv) Muslim private schools. [33281]
Mr. Timms: The available information is shown in the table.
(12) Similar information on Roman Catholic and Church of England independent schools is not collected.
(13) Data not available.
Source:
Independent Schools Registration Team, DfES
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Drug Awareness
John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to promote drug awareness in schools [33735]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: All schools are required to deliver drugs education as a statutory part of the national curriculum. In addition, three years of focused effort has raised the profile of drug education and increased drug awareness by: the production of guidance for schools; the launch of the joint Department of Health and Department of Education and Skills National Healthy School Standard (NHSS) in October 1999, of which drug education is a key component; and the publication of the Personal, Social, and Health Education Framework (PSHE) in November 1999.
£15 million is available this year to all LEAs through the Standards Fund to support drug education. It will help teachers deliver a drug education programme, which equips them with the knowledge and awareness to recognise the dangers of drug misuse and make informed choices. It will also fund drug advisers to work directly with schools, the training of Connexions personal advisers for 13 to 19-year-olds and ensure that key partners are engaged in developing drug education programmes relevant to the needs of the local community.
Teacher Retention
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research she has commissioned into the reasons for teachers leaving the profession. [34005]
Mr. Timms: The Department has commissioned Professor Alan Smithers and Dr. Pamela Robinson, from the University of Liverpool, Centre for Education and Employment Research to undertake research into the factors affecting teachers' decisions to leave the profession. The research commenced in December 2001 and we expect the report to be published in March 2003.
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Further/Higher Education (Romford)
Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of 16-year-olds in Romford have opted to continue into further and higher education in each of the past five years. [34143]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Data on the proportion of 16-year-olds continuing in post-compulsory education is not calculated for areas smaller than LEAs as reliable estimates cannot be made.
The percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time and part-time education for Havering LEA, which includes Romford, in the latest five years for which data are available is as follows:
| Full-time | Part-time | |
|---|---|---|
| 1995–96 | 74 | 5 |
| 1886–97 | 71 | 4 |
| 1997–98 | 73 | 10 |
| 1998–99 | 71 | 4 |
| 1999–2000 | 72 | 4 |
(14) Includes participation in schools, sixth form colleges and further education colleges.
Participation rates by LEA for 16 and 17-year-olds are published in an annual statistical bulletin, "Participation in Education and Training by Young People Aged 16 and 17 in Each Local Area and Region, England".
Figures for the number of school leavers who later go on to higher education are not collated centrally on a constituency basis.
Post-16 Provision (Funding)
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking to equalise the per capita funding for post-16 provision in colleges with school sixth forms. [34502]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government are firmly committed to bringing up the level of funding for colleges towards that of school sixth forms. As we have repeatedly made clear, this will take time and must be done as resources allow. We are considering this issue as part of the current spending review.
Value-added School League Tables
Mr. Gareth R. Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress she is making in introducing value-added school league tables; and if she will make a statement. [34564]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are committed to supplementing the information already published in performance tables with information about how far schools help their pupils to progress between the various stages of their education.
In November last year, we published the results of a pilot programme for the calculation of value added measures for secondary schools, showing the progress made from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 and from Key Stage 3 to GCSE/GNVQ. An evaluation of the pilot and further consultation that will take place shortly, will inform decisions on the publication of these two measures for all secondary schools in the 2002 performance tables.
8 Feb 2002 : Column 1223W
We also intend to run a pilot this year on the calculation and presentation of a value added measure from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 with a view to publishing this measure for all schools in the primary tables in 2003.
Asthma (Schoolchildren)
Mr. Wray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what guidelines she issues to ensure that children at school (a) are not exposed to asthma triggers and (b) have quick access to their medication; [34590]
- (2) what recent measures she has taken to ensure that all schools have an asthma plan and members of staff who know what to do if a child has a serious attack. [34589]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for Education and Skills, along with the Department of Health, has produced "Supporting Pupils with Medical Needs: a good practice guide" to encourage local education authorities and schools to draw up medical support policies and put in place effective management systems to support pupils with medical needs, such as asthma. The guide and its availability on the web, at www.dfes.gov.uk/medical, were promoted last year in the Department's Spectrum publication, sent to all local education authorities and schools in England.
Cortical Visual Impairment
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged up to 10-years-old suffer from cortical visual impairment (a) in England, (b) in the north-west and (c) in Lancashire; and what provision is made for young people suffering from cortical visual impairment in each of the counties of England. [32922]
Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply.
A study undertaken by the Institute of Child Health in Liverpool in 1996 estimated the prevalence of children affected by cortical visual impairment at 5.8 per 10,000. I understand that many children have additional disabilities. The Special Educational Needs (SEN) framework provides for individual children's educational needs to be identified, assessed and catered for as quickly as possible. For children with severe or complex needs, local education authorities carry out a multi-professional statutory assessment and issue a statement of SEN setting out each child's needs in detail and the provision to be made for meeting those needs by the education and health services.
Examination Results (Children in Care)
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children who (a) did not gain any GSCEs and (b) gained fewer than 5 A*-C GCSEs were in care in each of the years (i) 1996–97, (ii) 1997–98, (iii) 1998–99, (iv) 1990–2000 and (v) 2000–01. [32847]
Jacqui Smith: I have been asked to reply.
Educational achievements of children looked after by local councils have only been collected by the Department since 1 April 1999. These data relate to the educational achievements of children leaving care aged 16 or over.
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| Year ending 31 March: | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 2001 | |
| Number with | ||
| No GCSE passes | 4,900 | 4,200 |
| Fewer than 5 GCSE passes at grade A*-C | 5,530 | 6,200 |
| Percentage with | ||
| No GCSE passes | 71 | 64 |
| Fewer than 5 GCSE passes at grade A*-C | 96 | 95 |
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