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Schools (Private Sponsors)

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what approaches she has made to individuals, organisations and companies to sponsor academies and city academies; and what criteria are used to determine such approaches. [58076]

Mr. Timms: My Department has a dedicated Business Development Unit working with the corporate sector, to help build effective partnerships with companies. The Business Development Unit is supporting the Academies Unit to help identify potential sponsors for academies. My Department brings together these potential sponsors—many of them philanthropic individuals—and local education authorities (LEAs) who have expressed an interest in hosting an academy. It is for the sponsor and LEA to determine whether to establish an academy partnership.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what arrangements she has made to ensure that private sponsors of academies and city academies do not have a majority of places on the governing body of a school. [58075]

Mr. Timms: Governing bodies of academies will comprise sponsors, or their representatives, and other stakeholders, including staff, parents and an LEA representative. It would be possible for governors appointed by sponsors to be in the majority. As trustees all governors of academies will have a duty to act in the interests of the academy.

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Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what powers and benefits can be received where an organisation or individual provides substantial sponsorship to an emerging school. [58074]

Mr. Timms: Sponsors of academies are expected to play a key role in the strategic leadership of the schools they support. Sponsors—whether individuals or organisations—can derive no financial or other material benefit from their involvement with the schools.

Church Schools Company

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when her Department invited the Church Schools Company to sponsor the proposed Moss Side City Academy; which other schools have been offered to the Church Schools Company; and what the criteria are for such approaches. [58077]

Mr. Timms: My Department brings together potential sponsors and local education authorities (LEAs) who have expressed an interest in hosting an Academy. It is for the sponsor and LEA to determine whether to establish an Academy partnership. Manchester LEA and the Church Schools Company have been working together since October 2001 to establish a partnership for an Academy to replace Ducie High School in Manchester. The Church Schools Company is also sponsoring a new City Academy in Lambeth. The company has expressed interest in sponsoring other Academies and is in discussion with a number of authorities.

Faith Schools

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills where an Academy is created involving the (a) Church Schools Company and (b) other faith-based organisations, what control they will be able to exercise over admissions. [58073]

Mr. Timms: The admission arrangements for each Academy will be agreed with the Secretary of State and form part of its legally binding funding agreement. Admission arrangements for all Academies must be consistent with admissions law and the statutory codes of practice, as these apply to maintained schools.

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills where an existing school is taken over by (a) a faith-based organisation and (b) a group sponsored by a faith-based individual, what provision there will be for existing pupils and teachers to opt out of faith-based teaching and arrangements. [58078]

Mr. Timms: No state school can be taken over by an organisation or group. For an existing state school to become a faith school would require publication of two sets of statutory proposals—to close the school, and to open a new school with a religious character. The local School Organisation Committee, or Schools Adjudicator, would decide on the proposals following local consultation.

We would expect the School Organisation Committee or Adjudicator to seek assurances from the local education authority that existing pupils, including those who did not

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wish to transfer to the new faith school, would be provided for and their interests safeguarded.

Parents of children transferring to the new school could withdraw their children from RE teaching and collective worship if they wished to.

Teachers of the existing school who transferred to the new faith school would continue to enjoy the protections that applied to their employment at their former school. They would not have to participate in religious aspects of the new school. Those who did not wish to transfer would have to seek alternative employment if the local education authority did not offer another post.

Asylum Seekers

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if teachers who teach in accommodation centres for asylum seekers will be required to have completed initial teacher training. [57618]

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Mr. Timms: No decision has yet been taken as to whether those who will teach in the accommodation centres for asylum seekers will be required to have completed initial teacher training.

Mr. Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the vacancy rates for each of the last five years for (a) primary teachers and (b) secondary teachers in each of the eight local education authorities in which the Government are proposing to locate an accommodation centre for asylum seekers. [57619]

Mr. Timms: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department is currently proposing to locate an accommodation centre for asylum seekers in the following three English local education authorities: Worcestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Oxfordshire. A site in Lincolnshire is currently being evaluated.

The vacancy rates in maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools in these local education authorities ¹ in the last five years for which we have data ² are as follows:

Nursery/primary vacancy rates

LEA	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Former Hereford and Worcestershire	0.0	0.0	—	—	—
Herefordshire	—	—	0.3	1.4	1.2
Worcestershire	—	—	0.4	0.2	0.0
Total former Hereford and Worcester area	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.5	0.3
Former Nottinghamshire	0.0	0.0	—	—	—
Nottinghamshire	—	—	0.0	0.0	0.0
Nottingham	—	—	0.0	1.7	1.4
Total former Nottinghamshire area	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.4
Lincolnshire	0.9	1.7	0.5	0.5	0.3
Oxfordshire	0.1	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.5

Secondary vacancy rates

LEA	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Former Hereford and Worcestershire	0.1	0.2	—	—	—
Herefordshire	—	—	0.8	0.6	2.0
Worcestershire	—	—	0.2	0.1	0.3
Total former Hereford and Worcester area	0.1	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.6
Former Nottinghamshire	0.0	0.0	—	—	—
Nottinghamshire	—	—	0.0	0.0	0.0
Nottingham	—	—	0.0	0.8	2.7
Total former Nottinghamshire area	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.6
Lincolnshire	0.5	0.9	0.5	0.3	0.5
Oxfordshire	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3

Two sites are under consideration in Wales and Scotland, and two further sites in England have been found to be unsuitable and rejected.

¹ Local education authorities created by local government reorganisation in 1998 are shown under their parent authority. To allow comparisons between years, the vacancy data for new authorities have been aggregated to give total rates for the former authority areas.
² Data for January 2002 are not yet available at local education authority level. Information on vacancies in January 2002 by local education authority will be published in the Teachers in England statistical volume in December 2002.

Teacher Training Agency

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was of producing the new logo of the Teacher Training Agency. [58040]

Mr. Timms: The cost of producing the new Teacher Training Agency logo, including contract management, design and development costs, came to £38,110, plus VAT.

Juvenile Sex Abusers

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provision is made within initial teacher

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training to provide trainee teachers with assistance in responding to children and young people who sexually abuse. [58038]

Mr. Timms: The Government do not dictate the detailed curriculum for teacher training. However, we do expect teacher training providers to ensure trainee teachers are properly prepared to meet the standards required for Qualified Teacher Status. These standards include being aware of the statutory framework relating to teachers' responsibilities—which would include child protection legislation—and identifying and supporting pupils experiencing behavioural and emotional difficulties, with the help of an experienced teacher. Trainee teachers are also expected to understand the role of other professionals—including those responsible for child protection; to challenge harassment; and to work within schools' policies and procedures.

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