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Special Educational Needs

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of primary schools have additional facilities for children with special needs. [48219]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is not available centrally.

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children had statements of special educational needs in England in (a) 2001, (b) 1996 and (c) 1991. [37421]

Mr. Timms: The information requested is shown in the table.

Number of pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN) in all schools in England—position in January each year

199119962001(38)
Nursery
Pupils with statements264425600
Pupils on roll52,23752,28445,000
Incidence (%)0.50.81.3
Primary
Pupils with statements32,65561,69875,300
Pupils on roll4,047,1364,389,3644,406,200
Incidence (%)0.81.41.7
Secondary
Pupils with statements29,05665,13782,100
Pupils on roll2,773,5403,010,4163,231,800
Incidence (%)0.82.22.5
Special(39)
Pupils with statements85,63292,45091,900
Pupils on roll97,76398,07695,600
Incidence (%)87.694.396.1
Pupil Referral Units(39)
Pupils with statements(41)1,8281,800
Pupils on roll(41)6,8729,300
Incidence (%)(41)26.619.4
Independent(40)
Pupils with statements5,6215,8106,600
Pupils on roll565,927559,531586,200
Incidence (%)1.01.01.1
All schools
Pupils with statements153,228227,348258,200
Pupils on roll7,536,6038,116,5438,374,100
Incidence (%)2.02.83.1

(38) Estimates have been made for January 2001 because the data for SEN are known to be incomplete.

(39) Excluding dually registered pupils.

(40) Including Direct Grant Nursery Schools and City Technology Colleges.

(41) Pupil Referral Units did not exist prior to 1995.

Source:

Annual Schools' Census


Foreign Schoolchildren

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of children who are (a) citizens of other EU countries and (b) citizens of other non-EU countries studying in schools in England in each of the last five years. [48233]

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Mr. Timms: This information is not collected centrally.

Ministerial Visits (Schools)

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the schools which have been visited on more than one occasion by Ministers in DfEE and DfES since 1 May 1997 giving in each case (a) the date, (b) the purpose of the visit and (c) the identity of the Minister. [48242]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information in the form requested is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

School Toilet Facilities

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of new outside toilet facilities installed in schools in England in each of the last five years. [48243]

John Healey: The Department does not collect information on construction of toilet facilities in schools.

Modern Languages

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in secondary schools receive tuition in (a) French, (b) German, (c) Spanish and (d) another modern foreign language; and in each case what percentage this constitutes of the total number of pupils in secondary schools. [48236]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The School and College Performance Tables give information on how many pupils are entered for GCSE and A-level examinations. In 2000–01 entries for GCSE and A-level for (a) French totalled 321,200 and 15,170 respectively, for (b) German totalled 130,623 and 7,488, for (c) Spanish totalled 45,626 and 4,447 and for (d) all other languages, entries totalled 20,317 and 3,478.

Expressed as a percentage of all 15-year-old pupils attending school, the GCSE entries for each language represented 53.2 per cent. (French), 21.6 per cent. (German), 7.6 per cent. (Spanish) and 3.4 per cent. (other). The A-level entries expressed as a percentage of all 17 to 18-year-old candidates are 6.8 per cent. (French), 3.3 per cent. (German), 2.0 per cent. (Spanish) and 1.6 per cent. (other).

Data are not collected on how many pupils choose to study a language but do not go on to take an examination.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of children in each year of (a) Key Stage 1 and (b) Key Stage 2 who receive tuition in modern foreign languages in maintained schools; and what percentage that number is of the total for each year group. [48238]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: One in five primary schools currently offer some form of language learning at Key Stage 2. As language learning is not a compulsory element of the primary curriculum, it is not possible to give more detailed information.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of (a) the number and (b) the percentage of pupils aged 14 years and

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over who would choose not to study a modern foreign language if the national curriculum requirement were ended. [48239]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: We are currently undertaking an extensive consultation on a range of proposals including the position of modern foreign languages in our Green Paper, "14–19: extending opportunities, raising standards". Our proposal for languages would allow all young people a statutory entitlement to study a modern foreign language but they would have no obligation to do so. Latest figures suggest that around 36,000 pupils are covered by the disapplication arrangements regarding modern foreign languages at Key Stage 4. We have made no estimates at this stage of the effect of our proposals on the study of modern foreign languages at Key Stage 4.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of additional language teachers which would be required for all maintained schools to offer a modern foreign language at Key Stages 1 and 2. [48237]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Our ambition that all primary school children will be entitled to study languages by 2012 is one of a number of proposals set out in our consultation pamphlet "Language Learning". The consultation period ends on 31 May.

We recognise the need to raise the number of primary teachers trained to teach languages and will develop our long-term language learning and teaching strategy in the light of the responses to our consultation. The Languages National Steering Group, chaired by my ministerial colleague Baroness Catherine Ashton, is developing that strategy which will be published in the autumn.

Capita

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if Capita will participate in individual learning account successor schemes; and if she will make a statement. [48277]

John Healey: There will be a replacement ILA-type scheme building on the strengths of the ILA and taking into account the findings of the current stakeholder consultation exercise which are due in early April. We will announce our plans for introducing the new scheme, including delivery arrangements, in due course.

Mrs. Laing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will publish the quality control directives given to Capita in relation to the operation of the individual learning account scheme. [48247]

John Healey: Capita Business Services Ltd. are required to meet a range of service standards as part of their contract to operate the individual learning account scheme. Although the precise nature of these is a matter between the Department and Capita, performance against the standards is appraised by the Department on a monthly basis.

Correspondence

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the target time will be in 2002–03 for

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(a) Ministers to reply to letters from hon. Members and (b) officials in her Department to reply to letters received directly from members of the public. [44938]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The correspondence standard in the Department for Education and Skills is to reply to 95 per cent. of all correspondence within 15 working days of receipt. The target will remain the same for 2002–03.


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