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19 Sept 2002 : Column 115W—continued

Special Measures

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average time spent in special measures by English (a) secondary and (b) primary schools has been in the last five years. [73040]

19 Sept 2002 : Column 116W

Mr. Miliband: The average time spent by schools in special measures for the last 5 years has been 21 months for primary schools and 29 months for secondary schools.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the number of schools placed in special measures continues to decline and that all schools in special measures should be turned around in two years or closed. Further options to ensure more rapid turnaround of schools were proposed in the White Paper Schools: Achieving Success in 2001 and new measures are included in the Education Act 2002 to enhance and widen the intervention powers of LEAs and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average change in annual revenue budget was for an English (a) secondary and (b) primary school placed in special measures over the last five years. [73039]

Mr. Miliband: Funding support for schools placed in special measures is provided through a targeted element of the Standards Fund school improvement grant. LEAs receive direct funding support of £70,000 for each secondary school placed in special measures and £25,000 for each primary school to support schools with the implementation of their post-OFSTED action plan and to secure necessary improvements. The amount of additional support devolved to each school in special measures is a decision for the LEA.

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many English (a) secondary and (b) primary schools have been put into special measures in each of the last five years. [73041]

Mr. Miliband: The number of schools placed in special measures for the each of the last five years is:

	Secondary	Primary
1997–98	42	210
1998–99	30	141
1999–2000	38	168
2000–01	23	100
2001–02*	19	94

* Figures for this year may change, pending final corroborations.

Over this period, a total of 912 schools have recovered from special measures. The number of schools in special measures rose from 326 at the beginning of 1997–98 to a peak of 515 at the end of that academic year. The total has now reduced to 273.

19 Sept 2002 : Column 117W

Ethnic Ratios (Schools)

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the ethnic ratio is for schools in the Taunton constituency; and if she will make a statement. [73257]

Mr. Miliband: The available information is shown in the table below.

Percentage of Pupils by Ethnic Group (1) in Maintained Primary and Maintained Secondary Schools As at January 2001

		Percentage of Pupils
	Primary	Secondary
White	97.77	94.84
Black Caribbean	0.04	0.03
Black African	0.04	0.15
Black Other	0.07	0.10
Indian	0.06	0.02
Pakistani	0.03	0.03
Bangladeshi	0.04	0.10
Chinese	0.10	0.15
Other	0.73	3.01
Unclassified	1.11	1.54
Number of Pupils	6942	5838

(1) Pupils of compulsory school age and above were classified according to ethnic group.

Source:

Annual Schools' Census

Departmental Activities

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the activities pursued by her Department that have had a particular impact on Somerset since 7 June 2001. [73256]

David Miliband: Details of activities pursued by the Department since 7 June 2001 that have had an impact on Somerset have been placed in the Library.

19 Sept 2002 : Column 118W

Class Sizes

Mr. Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent evidence she has evaluated on the improvements in educational results to be realised through (a) marginal reductions in average class sizes and (b) alternative, more flexible uses of the same scale of resources within the educational system; and if she will make a statement. [72988]

Mr. Miliband: It is too early to evaluate fully the impact of smaller class sizes policy on educational achievement. However, there is evidence, some of which pre-dates the smaller class size policy, that smaller class sizes have a beneficial effect on pupil progress, particularly in maths and literacy, in Reception children. I am exploring how schools might make better use of all their resources—teachers, support staff and ICT through the Transforming School Workforce pathfinder project. The Department has commissioned a pilot survey to examine the feasibility of collecting the detailed school resourcing information needed to evaluate the impact of resource mix on performance.

Virginia Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size is, ranked according to local education authority, at the latest date for which figures are available. [72398]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table, copies of which have been placed in the Library.

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how many children were excluded from school in each of the London borough education authorities as of 1 June. (65048)

Stephen Twigg: The available information on permanent exclusions for the latest year for which data are available is shown in the following table. Information on Fixed Term Exclusions is not available centrally.

Number of Permanent Exclusions by Type of School, 1999–2000

Primary (1) Secondary (1) Special (2) Total
	Number of Permanent Exclusions	Percentage of the school population (3)	Number of Permanent Exclusions	Percentage of the school population (3)	Number of Permanent Exclusions	Percentage of the school population (3)	Number of Permanent Exclusions	Percentage of the school population (3)
LONDON	16	0.03	1066	0.27	56	0.45	1289	0.12
Inner London	7	0.03	410	0.33	30	0.62	516	0.14
Camden		0.02	16	0.15	4	1.33	22	0.10
City of London		0.45	0	0	0	0	1	0.45
Hackney		0.03	22	0.28	4	1.04	31	0.12
Hammersmith and Fulham		0.04	17	0.25	0	0.00	21	0.12
Haringey		0.03	18	0.16	1	0.25	25	0.07
Islington		0.01	18	0.24	0	0.00	20	0.08
Kensington and Chelsea		0.07	19	0.53	0	0.00	24	0.23
Lambeth	1	0.06	16	0.22	4	0.62	31	0.11
Lewisham	1	0.07	52	0.45	7	1.32	75	0.21
Newham		0.03	25	0.15	0	0.00	33	0.07
Southwark		0.03	58	0.59	3	0.66	69	0.20
Tower Hamlets		0.00	30	0.22	0	0.00	31	0.09
Wandsworth		0.03	82	0.84	7	0.94	94	0.33
Westminster		0.02	37	0.46	0	0.00	39	0.22
Outer London	9	0.02	656	0.24	26	0.34	773	0.11
Barking and Dagenham		0.04	23	0.22	1	0.50	31	0.11
Barnet		0.02	50	0.24	1	0.29	57	0.12
Bexley		0.02	22	0.13	6	1.50	33	0.08
Brent		0.04	47	0.33	1	0.24	57	0.15
Bromley		0.01	24	0.12	1	0.22	28	0.06
Croydon		0.02	76	0.45	4	0.73	87	0.18
Ealing		0.01	24	0.16	0	0.00	27	0.06
Enfield		0.01	68	0.34	1	0.19	73	0.15
Greenwich		0.03	36	0.26	0	0.00	43	0.12
Harrow		0.02	34	0.39	0	0.00	39	0.13
Havering		0.00	33	0.21	0	0.00	34	0.09
Hillingdon		0.02	39	0.24	4	0.61	47	0.12
Hounslow		0.04	44	0.27	1	0.25	52	0.14
Kingston upon Thames		0.01	15	0.18	0	0.00	16	0.08
Merton		0.04	16	0.21	1	0.41	23	0.10
Redbridge		0.02	23	0.12	2	0.44	29	0.07
Richmond upon Thames		0.01	24	0.32	0	0.00	25	0.13
Sutton		0.00	19	0.14	0	0.00	19	0.07
Waltham Forest	1	0.05	39	0.30	3	0.43	53	0.15

(1) Includes middle schools as deemed

(2) Includes Maintained and Non Maintained Special Schools

(3) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of full time and part-time pupils of all ages in Primary, Secondary and Special schools, excluding dually registered pupils in special schools in January 2000.

Source:

Annual Schools' Census

19 Sept 2002 : Column 119W

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children aged five, six, and seven were in infant classes of over 30 on (a) 1 May 1997, (b) 31 December 1998, (c) September 2001, (d) 31 December 2001 and (e) the latest date for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [69297]

Mr. Miliband: The available information collected from the Annual Schools Census in January of each year and from the September Class Size Count is shown in the table.

Key Stage 1 Classes taught by one teacher in Maintained Primary Schools (1)(2) England

Number of pupils in classes of 31 or more in:
Academic Year	September (3)(4)	January
1996–1997		476,822
1997–1998		485,311
1998–1999	354,000	356,586
1999–2000	171,000	176,962
2000–2001	30,000	35,813
2001–2002	8,000	10,398(p)

(1) Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.

(2) Key Stage 1 classes of 31 or more may contain pupils who have been admitted as permitted exceptions.

(3) This figure includes estimates of pupils entering later in the Autumn term under staggered entry arrangements from schools which did not make a return.

(4) Class sizes as measured in September are not directly comparable with those in January. As any differences in the figures will reflect seasonal effects such as pupils entering in January.Not available. The September Class Size Count took place for the first time in 1998.

(p) Provisional

Source:

Annual Schools Census and September Class Size Count

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