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Teacher Work Load
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if her Department has estimated the amount of time spent by (a) head teachers, (b) deputy head teachers, (c) teachers and (d) classroom assistants dealing with (i) Government-produced circulars and (ii) other work, expressed as a proportion of total time worked by head teachers, for each year since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [47752]
Mr. Timms: My Department does not hold the information requested. The study on teacher work load that we commissioned last year from PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests that some 20 per cent. of teachers' time is spent on tasks not directly related to classroom teaching. We recently offered practical advice on how these tasks might be transferred to support staff and Information and Communications Technology.
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Beyond that, the School Teachers' Review Body (STRB) will be reporting on work load shortly. The STRB has been asked among other things to look at possible contractual changes to help teachers to focus on the core of their job.
Edexcel
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will publish the results of the assessment of examination board Edexcel; and if she will make a statement. [47743]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The results of the assessment of examination board Edexcel were published on 1 February by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and made available on its website. http://www.qca.org.uk/news/ press/20020201.asp
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My Department made a press announcement on that day as did QCA and the Edexcel Foundation. QCA will continuously review Edexcel's performance against the eight action points agreed between Edexcel and the QCA. The QCA will not be publishing progress reports. However, the first four action points have been satisfactorily met and a report of a review of performance will be made in the autumn.
English for Speakers of Other Languages
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action she is taking in conjunction with the Learning and Skills Council to promote and resource English for speakers of other languages, with particular reference to vocational needs. [47878]
John Healey: Large numbers of people need access to good quality English language provision if they are to have equal chances of success at work, at home and in society in general. The Government are fully committed to providing tuition for adults who do not speak English as their first language as part of 'Skills for Life', our national strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy skills. A core curriculum for English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) was published in December 2001 and 2,500 tutors have received training in its use. We are also developing ESOL diagnostic tools and learning materials. We are running a national promotional campaign to boost demand for literacy, language and numeracy learning which has so far resulted in over 70,000 calls to the promotional hotline.
Improving adult basic skills, including language skills, is also one of the Learning and Skills Council's most important objectives. Its priority was emphasised by the chief executive in his recent letter to all post-16 providers to encourage the expansion of provision to meet our target of improving the basic skills levels of 750,000 adults by 2004. To ensure the resourcing and promotion of basic skills matches local needs and reflects national policy, local LSCs have produced delivery plans, setting out how they intend to increase and improve literacy, language and numeracy provision. These plans also set local targets for participation and achievement in literacy, language and numeracy provision.
Maladministration
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what payments have been made to individuals following findings of maladministration ombudsmen with responsibility for agencies under the remit of her Department in the last 12 months; and what plans she has to review the powers to increase the level of awards that can be made. [47948]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: Over the past 12 months no payments have been recorded as being made by the Department of Education and Skills as a result of the findings of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration (parliamentary ombudsman).
The Department no longer has any executive agencies under its control. Information on maladministration payments made by Non-Departmental Public Bodies, sponsored by the Department, is not held centrally and could be gathered only at disproportionate cost.
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The level of award in maladministration cases is recommended, on an individual basis, by the parliamentary ombudsman and is not decided by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills.
Asylum Seekers
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list by education authority the number of children of asylum seekers and refugees with English language difficulties who are not being counted as being at school for the purposes of calculating annual primary and secondary performance tables. [47990]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: We received a number of requests from schools to discount children who had recently arrived from overseas (including children of asylum seekers and refugees) from the 2001 school performance tables.
For the primary school tables, a total of 1,648 children were discounted from the published results in the performance tables.
For the secondary school tables, a total of 1,559 children were discounted. A breakdown by local education authority, for the primary school and secondary school tables respectively, is provided.
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Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list by education authority the amount of money paid in 2001–02 by her Department to support the education costs of children of asylum seekers dispersed to cluster areas under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. [47991]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: £1.5 million was made available in 2000–01 to support the education costs of children of asylum seekers dispersed to cluster areas under the Immigration and Asylum Act. This amounted to £500 per child and was to be used to help settle these children into school quickly. This funding was rolled forward into 2001–02 and, due to a greater number of eligible children, was increased to £2,377,000. Thus allowing this Department to continue to make a payment of £500 per child.
In addition, all schools with children of asylum seekers on their school roll, including those in the dispersal areas, receive funding for them in the same way as they do for all other children through the education standard spending
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assessment. In addition, there is support through the ethnic minority achievement grant. All local education authorities are eligible for this grant which totals around £154 million this year. The purpose of this grant is to support minority ethnic children at risk of underachieving and provide support to those for whom English is an additional language, including the children of asylum seekers and refugees.
The list of authorities in receipt of funding is as follows:
| LEA name | Amount of funding |
|---|---|
| Barnsley | 23,500 |
| Birmingham | 75,500 |
| Blackburn | 13,500 |
| Bolton | 65,000 |
| Bradford | 78,500 |
| Brighton | 7,500 |
| Bristol | 10,000 |
| Bury | 26,500 |
| Calderdale | 16,500 |
| Coventry | 36,500 |
| Darlington | 500 |
| Derby | 64,000 |
| Doncaster | 35,000 |
| Dudley | 11,000 |
| Gateshead | 41,000 |
| Hants | 2,000 |
| Hartlepool | 9,000 |
| Kingston | 31,500 |
| Kirklees | 31,000 |
| Lancashire | 4,500 |
| Leeds | 108,000 |
| Leicester | 51,000 |
| Leicestershire | 1,500 |
| Lincolnshire | 2,500 |
| Liverpool | 124,000 |
| Manchester | 425,500 |
| Middlesbrough | 44,500 |
| Newcastle | 131,500 |
| Newham | 1,500 |
| North Tyneside | 34,000 |
| Nottingham | 128,000 |
| Oldham | 9,000 |
| Peterborough | 6,000 |
| Plymouth | 9,500 |
| Portsmouth | 4,000 |
| Redcar | 30,500 |
| Rochdale | 51,500 |
| Rotherham | 21,000 |
| Salford | 101,500 |
| Sandwell | 30,000 |
| Sefton | 10,000 |
| Sheffield | 148,500 |
| South Tyneside | 20,500 |
| Stockport | 17,000 |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 10,500 |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 16,000 |
| Sunderland | 30,000 |
| Tameside | 11,500 |
| Trafford | 19,000 |
| Wakefield | 29,000 |
| Walsall | 19,000 |
| Wigan | 50,500 |
| Wolverhampton | 98,000 |
| Total | 2,377,000 |
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