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Children in Care

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:


Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provision the Government makes to ensure children in care remain in the same educational institution until the age of 16 years. [61785]

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.

Child Care

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.

Religious Education

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 1–94. The detail of RE is determined locally and we do not have any plans to change that.

Sign Language

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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Music Therapy

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 2002–03, 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.

Educational Attainment

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.

Overseas Students

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.

Student enrolments(12) in English and Welsh higher education institutions 2001–02 (provisional)
Census counts as at 1 December 2001

Higher education institutionOverseas studentsTotal students (all domiciles)Overseas as a proportion of total (Percentage)
England
Anglia Polytechnic University2,29019,50012
Aston University8606,93012
Bath College of Higher Education2104,1705
Birkbeck College36011,8603
Bishop Grosseteste College01,0200
Bolton Institute of Higher Education3905,9407
Bournemouth University1,19012,8909
Brunel University1,52013,41011
Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education8308,61010
Canterbury Christ Church College37011,4003
Central School of Speech and Drama8062013
Chester College of Higher Education1506,2502
Chichester Institute of Higher Education504,0401
City University2,82012,88022
College of St. Mark and St. John2303,1307
Conservatoire for Dance and Drama9034026
Coventry University2,44016,24015
Cranfield University1,1303,56032
Cumbria Institute of the Arts608407
Dartington College of Arts6048013
De Montfort University1,76021,5708
Edge Hill College of Higher Education1707,9302
Falmouth College of Arts901,5306
Goldsmiths College1,3107,27018
Harper Adams Agricultural College1701,74010
Homerton College502,3902
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine3,85011,84033
Institute of Advanced Nursing Education407605
Institute of Education, University of London5803,46017
Institute of Cancer Research6047013
Kent Institute of Art and Design4702,03023
King Alfred's College, Winchester1104,2403
King's College London3,10017,27018
Kingston University1,99015,85013
Leeds Metropolitan University1,68021,8908
Liverpool Hope3306,4805
Liverpool John Moores University1,71019,5809
London Business School9701,45067
London Guildhall University1,72012,44014
London School of Economics and Political Science5,0308,08062
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine40078051
Loughborough University1,64013,55012
Middlesex University5,28022,15024
Nene College5109,9405
Newman College801,4506
Northern School of Contemporary Dance4015027
Norwich School of Art and Design207303
Oxford Brookes University2,54014,22018
Queen Mary and Westfield College1,9609,44021
Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication11071015
Roehampton Institute of Higher Education6507,0009
Rose Bruford College13080016
Royal Academy of Music27061044
Royal Agricultural College9058016
Royal College of Art26085031
Royal College of Music17054031
Royal Holloway and Bedford New College1,4305,76025
Royal Northern College of Music13060022
Sheffield Hallam University1,44023,1306
South Bank University1,11016,7307
Southampton Institute97010,6009
St. George's Hospital Medical School1902,7907
St. Martin's College3007,9204
St. Mary's College1902,6607
Staffordshire University1,14016,2807
Surrey Institute of Art and Design3502,82012
Thames Valley University1,42013,33011
The Arts Institute of Bournemouth801,0907
The London Institute3,12010,16031
The Manchester Metropolitan University1,86028,5607
The Nottingham Trent University1,59022,2107
The Open University0150,8900
The Royal Veterinary College17090019
The School of Oriental and African Studies1,5203,54043
The School of Pharmacy, University of London16078021
The University of Bath1,94010,45019
The University of Birmingham4,00025,20016
The University of Bradford1,71010,60617
The University of Brighton2,01015,15013
The University of Bristol2,34017,35013
The University of Cambridge4,69021,45022
The University of Central England in Birmingham1,43018,0608
The University of Central Lancashire2,37023,25010
The University of East Anglia1,64012,54013
The University of East London2,03012,42016
The University of Essex2,6308,24032
The University of Exeter1,52012,08013
The University of Greenwich2,51017,10015
The University of Huddersfield88016,4205
The University of Hull2,26016,40014
The University of Keele9109,43010
The University of Kent at Canterbury2,25012,47018
The University of Lancaster2,18011,24019
The University of Leeds4,81032,82015
The University of Leicester2,83016,63017
The University of Lincoln1,46011,27013
The University of Liverpool3,08021,86014
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology2,0906,97030
The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne2,21017,37013
The University of North London2,41014,03017
The University of Northumbria at Newcastle2,24019,57011
The University of Nottingham3,90023,93016
The University of Oxford4,56020,85022
The University of Plymouth1,65021,7808
The University of Portsmouth2,97016,88018
The University of Reading2,50013,57018
The University of Salford1,67017,10010
The University of Sheffield3,20022,97014
The University of Southampton2,09019,15011
The University of Sunderland1,34011,34012
The University of Surrey2,37011,50021
The University of Sussex2,32011,28021
The University of Teesside64013,6505
The University of Warwick4,16020,21021
The University of Westminster3,54021,34017
The University of Wolverhampton1,79019,3609
The University of York1,1409,45012
The Victoria University of Manchester3,75024,99015
Trinity and All Saints College802,5903
Trinity College of Music12049024
University College London4,97019,21026
University of Derby59011,4005
University of Durham1,41013,56010
University of Gloucestershire2607,9603
University of Hertfordshire2,14018,30012
University of London (Central Institutes and activities)27079034
University of Luton2,5109,39027
University of the West of England, Bristol1,39021,0607
Wimbledon School of Art9062015
Worcester College of Higher Education1905,2904
Writtle College1401,24011
York St. John College2104,8604
Wales
Swansea Institute of Higher Education1804,8404
The North-East Wales Institute of Higher Education3504,8907
The University of Wales, Lampeter3404,5607
Trinity College, Carmarthen1102,2605
University of Glamorgan1,36015,9009
University of Wales College of Medicine2703,3308
University of Wales College, Newport4207,5306
University of Wales Institute, Cardiff4907,9006
University of Wales, Aberystwyth9809,70010
University of Wales, Bangor6808,4208
University of Wales, Cardiff2,74019,03014
University of Wales, Swansea1,33010,89012
Welsh College of Music and Drama506008
Total England and Wales199,3001,642,30012

(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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