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Faith Schools
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the faith schools which receive public funding, specifying the amount in each case.[45760]
Mr. Timms: There are approximately 5,000 voluntary schools maintained by Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in England with either a religious or church-related character. LEAs' Section 52 budget statements do not identify these schools separately; it is therefore not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate costs. All LEA maintained schools are funded on a similar basis, via a local formula methodology, which is based predominately on pupil numbers, along with other specific factors which relate to individual schools' needs.
NVQs (Grants)
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) the number of grants paid out and (b) the average grant allocation given to individuals to obtain National Vocational Qualification level II was in each of the last five years. [45626]
Margaret Hodge: There is a range of support payments available to eligible students and trainees studying towards National Vocational Qualification Level 2, including: Education Maintenance Allowances paid to young people who stay on at school or college and available on a pilot basis in 30 per cent. of England; Access Funds paid to students in cases of hardship and also used to fund residential support for certain specified courses for which a young person needs to live away from home; Training Allowances for 16–24 year
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olds in unwaged work based learning; and help with the childcare costs of those in learning. In addition, the Department provides significant funding to cover the tuition costs of the education and training provided to individuals.
It is not possible, however, to identify either the total number of NVQ Level 2 students helped or the average value of financial assistance received by individuals. Information held by the Department does not differentiate between those individuals studying towards NVQ Level 2 and those aiming for other types and levels of qualification.
Schools
David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on surplus places in schools; and if she will publish the numbers and percentages of surplus places for each local education authority in England [46933]
Mr. Timms: Our policies are focused on raising educational standards. It is wasteful for resources to be locked into maintaining surplus places in schools. Wherever possible these should be freed up and directed towards improving standards. In planning school provision, local education authorities should look for opportunities for removing surplus capacity, with a view to bringing supply and demand for school places into better balance. Their initial focus should be on those schools with 25 per cent. or more of their places unfilled, having particular regard to standards at those schools. The overall aim should be to maximise parental preference and to provide good quality education in the most cost-effective way. The Department's annual survey of surplus places allows us to monitor how local education authorities are meeting this challenge. The Audit Commission has again drawn attention to this issue and, with District Auditors, is promoting good practice.
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Local education authorities have again made progress in the removal of surplus places. The survey returns indicate that there were 699,770 surplus school places in January 2001, representing 9 per cent. of the total capacity of 7.8 million places. This is an overall reduction of 10,219 places on the 2000 figures. Since 1998 a total of 74,050 surplus places have been removed. This reduction means that more money will be spent raising school standards rather than maintaining empty buildings.
The following tables are based on the returns made by the local education authorities in respect of all maintained primary and secondary schools in their area. They set out the numbers of surplus places as at January 2001 for each local authority area, listing primary and secondary separately, together with the proportion that these represent of total capacity. They also highlight the numbers of schools which at that date had surplus of 25 per cent. or more, and at least 30 surplus places, together with the proportion that these represent of the total number of schools.
The number of schools with 25 per cent. or more surplus places has again risen for the second successive year, to 2,441 compared with 2,406 in 2000. As with the 2000 survey, the number of primary schools in this category has risen (2,139 in 2001 which represents 12 per cent. of all primary schools, compared to 2,013 (11 per cent.) in 2000) while the number of secondary schools has declined (302 in 2001, which represents 9 per cent. of all secondary schools, compared with 393 (11 per cent.) in 2000).
The returns also provide the Department with details of the action authorities propose to take on schools with 25 per cent. or more surplus. The returns indicate that in many cases action is being taken, or is planned. Where planning strategies are unclear in areas with particularly high levels of surplus, the Department will be following up with the authorities concerned.
1 Primary figures show surplus after taking account of summer entry.
2 Actual surplus is defined as the difference between capacity and number on roll for all schools where capacity exceeds number on roll.
3 Schools with less than 30 surplus places are not included.
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