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27 Nov 2002 : Column 305W—continued
EDUCATION AND SKILLS
Drugs
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure the provision of a minimum standard of drugs education in secondary schools. [82934]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: We are determined to ensure that the quality of drug education provision in all schools is of high quality. Funding is made available through the standards fund (£15.5 million in 2002–03) to all local education authorities to facilitate this. It will help schools deliver drug education programmes tailor made to the needs of young people, train teachers, and fund school drug adviser posts to work directly with schools to address gaps in the quality of drug education and help ensure drug education and incident management polices are in line with DfES guidance.
There are a number of other measures in place to drive up the quality of drug education including the drug, alcohol and tobacco education package to improve teaching and learning and classroom practice and QCA curriculum materials which provide exemplar teaching and learning activities for key stages 1–4.
The latest Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) survey of drug education published in November 2002 indicated that at key stages 3 and 4 the quality of teaching about drugs is at least adequate in all but a few lessons and good or better in 40 per cent. of lessons. We will be working with Ofsted to strengthen current arrangements for inspecting drug education. This might include specific training for Ofsted inspectors.
Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of additional post-threshold pay progression for teachers will be met by additional central Government funding; and whether this extra money will recur in future financial years. [83430]
Mr. Miliband: Movement to point two of the upper pay scale for post-threshold teachers is by performance points awarded on a discretionary basis by school governors. The Department is contributing £90 million to fund progression on the upper pay scale for teachers. The percentage of awards that the £90 million will fully fund depends on the number of discretionary points that governing bodies decide to award.
Schools are also able to use their general budgets to fund moving teachers to point two should they wish to do so. Schools have benefited from a £1.3 billion increase in education standard spending assessments this financial year.
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The exact mechanisms for future funding have yet to be finalised. However, we have already said that funding for post-threshold and leadership performance points next year will not be less than the £150 million already announced.
Adult Learning
Dr. Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress he has made towards the targets for adult learning announced in March 1999 as part of the national learning targets for 2002 [82889]
Mr. Miliband: On November 13 this year, we announced that the National learning target for adult participation had been met. The announcement was made on the occasion of the publication of the Annual Local Area Labour Force Survey (ALALFS)2001–02.
In 1999, the government set a target of increasing adult participation in learning (as measured by the National Audit Learning Survey (NALS) from 74 per cent. in 1997 to 76 per cent. in 2002.
The NALS 2002 survey found that 76.4 per cent. of adults had taken part in learning activities recognised by NALS over the last three years. Thus the target has been met; and it is confirmed by this year's Annual Local Area Labour Force Survey. The target applies to adults living in England aged 16–69 outside continuous full-time education.
The following table summarises the findings from recent surveys of learning which used the NALS definition. The same questions were asked in the NAL did not accept proxy interviews and had a lower response rate.
| Survey name | Date of fieldwork | Learning participation |
|---|---|---|
| Per cent | ||
| NALS 2002 | January 2002-June 2002 | 76.4 |
| ELLFS 2001 | March 2001-February 2002 | 76.0 |
| NALS 2001 | January 2001-May 2001 | 75.6 |
| ELLFS 2000 | March 2000-February 2001 | 74.2 |
| NALS 1997 | March 1997-April 1997 | 73.8 |
Arson
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many incidents of arson there were in, and what the cost of the damage was to (i) state primary schools, (ii) state secondary schools, (iii) all state schools, (iv) further education colleges and (v) higher education institutions, in each county in each year since 1992. [83137]
Mr. Miliband: The Department does not collect these figures.
Class Sizes
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local education authorities have classes of more than 30 pupils for five, six or seven-year-olds. [81084]
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Mr. Miliband [holding answer 18 November 2002]: The information requested is shown in the following table.
(10) About 70 per cent. of these classes included pupils that were admitted as Xexcepted" pupils under the Education (Infant Class Size) Regulations 1998. Exceptions include classes with pupils admitted outside the normal admission round, after an admission appeal or because of a statement of Special Educational Needs. Also, classes where pupils are temporarily present from a special unit and classes for other teaching sessions such as games, music or drama.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census
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Infant class size information for September 2002 was published on 20 November 2002 in the statistical first release entitled, XInfant Class Sizes in England: September 2002". This showed that nationally there were 307 classes of more than 30 pupils of which 288 were recorded as acceptable under the Education (Infant Class Sizes) Regulations 1998. These September figures are not directly comparable with those in January, because of seasonal effects such as pupils entering school in January. Corresponding local education authority level figures are not yet available but will be published in due course on the DfES statistical website www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.
Education Review Body
Mr. Watts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will set up a review body to look at under-achievement and deprivation, and the funding system for education. [82429]
Mr. Miliband: The Education Funding Strategy Group (EFSG) and its technical sub group was set up in February 2001, to oversee the production of proposals for a new LEA funding system, building on the proposals in the September 2000 Local Government
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Finance Green Paper. The group considered papers on underachievement and deprivation at a number of their meetings. Its report was published in May 2002, and copies have already been placed in the Library of the House.
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