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Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if schools are required to record whether a pupil is living in (a) a residential care home or (b) with foster parents. [61783]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: Schools are not currently required to record this information. However with effect from January 2003 the returns for the Pupil Level Annual Schools Census (PLASC) will include three new data items about looked after children to show:
whether or not the pupil has, to the school's knowledge, been looked after at any time since they joined the school;
and the identity of the caring authority for the pupil's current (or most recent) looked-after episode.
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government recognise that changes in care arrangements can disrupt the education of children who are looked after, and are determined to promote stability.
This Department, jointly with the Department of Health, issued guidance to all authorities in May 2000 on the education of children and young people in public care. The guidance emphasises the importance of a stable care and education placement in order to promote educational success for children in public care. The Department of Health also set targets within the Quality Protects programme to promote stability and reduce placement moves.
Under s22(3) of the Children Act, local authorities have a duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of all children and young people who are looked after, education being a critical dimension of their welfare. It is for local authorities to decide on a case-by-case basis whether it is in the best interests of a child in public care to remain in the same educational establishment.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to make access to child care less dependent on families' income, location and their employment status. [62156]
Mr. Miliband: The Government's national child care strategy was introduced in May 1998 to ensure that affordable, accessible and quality child care is available in every neighbourhood and complements early education, schools and other family services. By March 2004, we will have created 900,000 new child care places for 1.6 million children which, taking into account turnover, should allow around 1 million extra children to benefit. We are working in particular to extend child care provision in disadvantaged areas through Neighbourhood Nurseries and other programmes, and to make it more affordable, through measures like the working families tax credit, under which lower income families can receive help with up to 70 per cent. of their eligible child care costs. Support with child care costs is a feature of the New Deal, particularly the New Deal for Lone Parents, and is also available to further and higher education student parents.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the Government's long-term objective is for child care by 2010. [62158]
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Mr. Miliband: The inter-departmental review of child care being led by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Early Years and School Standards is developing a 10-year vision and strategy for child care, focusing on the provision of quality, affordable and accessible child care. Final decisions on the outcomes of the review will be taken in the context of the 2002 spending review.
Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the PIU review of the national child care strategy will be published. [62159]
Mr. Miliband: We expect that outcomes from the inter-departmental review of child care being led by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Early Years and School Standards will be announced in the 2002 spending review this summer.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what policy changes she plans for (a) school assemblies and (b) religious education in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools; and if she will make a statement. [61856]
Mr. Miliband: We have no particular policy on school assemblies as it is for schools to decide the frequency, format and content of any assembly which takes place.
The current policy regarding religious education (RE) is set out in circular 194. The detail of RE is determined locally and we do not have any plans to change that.
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what discussions she has had with the British Deaf Association and RNID about whether teachers of the deaf should be required to have a BSL qualification; and if she will make a statement; [61874]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 17 June 2002]: In addition to holding qualified teacher status, teachers who are employed to teach classes of pupils with hearing impairment are required by regulations to undertake an additional specialist mandatory qualification (MQ). In July 1999, at the request of the then Secretary of State, the Teacher Training Agency carried out a review of existing arrangements in order to develop a new specification for MQ provision. The resulting specification, amended in light of consultation with a wide range of organisations, including those representing children with hearing impairment, requires teachers pursuing the hearing impairment MQ to acquire a minimum competence in signing equivalent to the stage one qualification offered by the Council for the Advancement of Communications with Deaf People.
Under the special educational needs category of the Department's standards fund, grant support is available to local education authorities and schools for training and professional development of teachers and other staff. It is open to them to use this funding to help staff to secure necessary mandatory qualifications, or other training in signing including British sign language.
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Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support her Department gives for the use of music therapy to assist people with disabilities. [62089]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 17 June 2002]: Under the Standards Fund 200203, the Department is supporting local expenditure of £91 million to enhance provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities. One of the expenditure headings is therapies and it would be open to local education authorities to use part of their allocation to support music therapy if they so wish.
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils awarded educational maintenance allowances were living (a) in a residential care home and (b) with foster parents in the last three years for which figures are available. [62173]
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Margaret Hodge [holding answer 18 June 2002]: We do not require local education authorities, who administer the pilot EMA schemes, to collect this information. However, across three pilot areas which are specifically targeting vulnerable young people, around 40 EMA recipients have been identified as being in residential care. The purpose of these pilots is to examine how the effectiveness of EMA in reaching out to the most vulnerable groups in society can be maximised.
Mr. Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many overseas students there are in England and Wales universities, broken down by university; and what percentage overseas students represent of the student population. [62175]
Margaret Hodge: The requested information is given in the table. The student numbers shown cover full-time and part-time courses of higher education, including both undergraduate and postgraduate levels of study.
(12) Includes full-time and part-time enrolments on undergraduate and postgraduate courses of HE in higher education institutions in England and Wales. Institution numbers have been rounded to nearest 10 and totals to nearest 100.
Source:
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) December 2001 Student Record.
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