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4 Dec 2002 : Column 827W—continued

Ministerial Visits

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times he has visited East Lancashire in his official capacity; and what the purpose was of each visit. [82401]

Mr. Charles Clarke: My predecessor and I have not visited East Lancashire in this capacity since the June 2001 General Election. However I did visit Preston on 27 September 2002 to meet a business group at the University of Central Lancashire. I was also a guest of the Directors of Preston North End Football Club to observe the game against Norwich City on 28 September, which I am glad to report that Norwich won.

Pre-School Education

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional resources will be given to local education authorities to extend free early education to all three-year-olds. [83167]

Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.

Over the three financial years 2001–02 to 2003–04, 986 million has been allocated for the creation of new, free early education places for three year olds and for other early years initiatives.

From April 2003 all early education funding will be made available to local authorities in the under 5's sub-block, through Education Formula Spending 2003–04. This sub-block will be increased substantially to £2.6 billion which will provide adequate resources for all local education authorities to achieve universal provision for three year olds.

In addition, £40 million capital funds have been made available over the financial years 2002–03 and 2003–04, for the building of nursery education facilities in disadvantaged areas which will support the achievement of universal provision of three year olds.

4 Dec 2002 : Column 828W

Primary Schools

Mr. Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent consultations he has had with bodies representing pre-school play groups (a) in rural areas and (b) elsewhere, over proposals that all four-year-olds should attend primary schools. [82051]

Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.

The Secretary of State has no proposals for recommending that all four year olds should attend primary school. Compulsory school age remains the term following the child's fifth birthday.

Some primary schools do operate an early admission policy. Where this is the case, the School Admissions Code of Practice encourages admission authorities to allow parents who have secured a place for their child to defer entry until later in the same academic year if they wish to do so.

Admissions policy has recently been reviewed and following consultation, a new, revised Code has been produced. This is currently before Parliament for consideration. The new Code includes a stronger message on deferred entry making it clear to primary school admission authorities that the Secretary of State expects them to offer parents the option of deferring entry.

Public Building Designs

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on how he intends to implement the recommendations in the joint Office of Government Commerce and Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment guidance, Improving standards of design in the procurement of public building. [85191]

Mr. Miliband: The DfES does not procure educational buildings. In the schools sector, this is the responsibility of local education authorities, school governors and trustees. For this sector, the relevant recommendations of the CABE/OGC report have already been, or will be, taken into account and reflected in updated DfES project design, procurement, funding and asset management plan appraisal guidance.

In the further and higher education sectors, the responsibility for influencing design and sustainability issues rests, respectively, with the LSC and the HEFCE.

Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what checks were made before the appointment of the new Chief Executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; and if he will make a statement. [83934]

Mr. Miliband: The Qualification and Curriculum Authority appoint their Chief Executive with the approval of the Secretary of State. The QCA in its recruitment process obtained views from leading education practitioners in Australia who had worked with Ken Boston. The judgment of those consulted was that the new Chief Executive was a highly credible candidate with considerable integrity.

4 Dec 2002 : Column 829W

Sure Start

Mr. Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the effects of Sure Start programmes on children's health. [83166]

Maria Eagle: I have been asked to reply.

Sure Start is expected to have a positive impact on children's health in their early years of life and throughout childhood into adulthood.

Sure Start programmes work to improve children's health by working with existing statutory and voluntary agencies to provide a wide range of health related support and advice to parents and parents to be. This includes: diet and nutrition advice; smoking cessation; preparation for parenthood classes; enhanced maternity and health visiting services; child health and development information; identification of and support to mothers with post-natal depression; breastfeeding support; parenting support and advice; early identification of special needs and support to families with children with special needs along with a wide range of practical, social and specialist support to improve parents' social and emotional health.

Comprehensive monitoring and evaluation processes are in place to assess the impact of Sure Start on a wide range of child health outcomes. At present it is too early to assess the impact of Sure Start on such outcomes but information on this will become available over the next 12–18 months.

One of Sure Start's PSA objectives is concerned with improving children's health and progress towards this is reported annually in the DfES Annual Report.

4 Dec 2002 : Column 830W

Teacher Training

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many undergraduates started full-time teacher training courses in England in the academic year 2001–02 in each subject. [84569]

Mr. Miliband: The number of undergraduates who started full-time teacher training courses in England in the academic year 2001–02 by subject is shown in the table

Table 1. The number of full-time undergraduate teacher trainees who entered in 2001–02

	Number
Primary	6,368
Secondary
Mathematics	149
English	128
Science	150
Modern Foreign Languages	16
Total Technology	386
History	0
Geography	11
Physical Education	564
Art	0
Music	29
Religious Education	7
Citizenship	0
Other	0
Secondary total	1,440
Grand total	7,808

Source:

TTA ITT Trainee Number Census 2001—02

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people entered initial teacher training courses for (a) primary and (b) secondary subjects through (i) undergraduate, (ii) postgraduate and (iii) employment-based routes in the academic years (A) 2001–02 and (B) 2002–03. [84570]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 2 December 2002]: The information is shown in the tables.

Recruitment to courses of initial teacher training and employment based initial teacher training programmes in England in 2001–02

	Postgraduate ITT recruitment	Undergraduate ITT recruitment	Total ITT recruitment	GTP recruitment	KTP recruitment	OTT recruitment	Total ITT and EBR recruitment
Primary	6,749	6,385	13,135	1,213	118	415	14,881
Secondary
Mathematics	1,409	150	1,559	218	6	85	1,868
English and drama	2,119	128	2,247	374	4	142	2,767
Science	2,464	150	2,614	375	5	94	3,088
Modern foreign languages	1,699	16	1,715	261	1	23	2,000
Total technology	1,774	387	2,161	420	17	57	2,655
History	933	0	933	70	1	15	1,019
Geography	1,024	11	1,035	37	1	11	1,084
Physical education	764	566	1,330	88	1	30	1,499
Art	843	0	843	59	0	5	907
Music	627	29	656	44	0	18	718
Religious education	581	7	588	25	1	6	620
Citizenship	147	0	147	0	0	0	147
Other	231	0	231	60	10	20	321
Secondary total	4,615	1,444	16,059	2,031	47	506	18,643
Grand total	21,364	7,830	29,194	3,244	165	921	33,524

Source:

Teacher training agency

4 Dec 2002 : Column 831W

Recruitment to courses of initial teacher training and employment based initial teacher training programmes in England in 2002–03

	Postgraduate ITT recruitment	Undergraduate ITT recruitment	Total ITT recruitment	GTP recruitment	RTP recruitment	OTT recruitment1	Total ITT and EBR recruitment
Primary	7,988	6,488	14,476	684	16	34	15,210
Secondary
Mathematics	1,545	144	1,689	135	1	11	1,836
English and drama	2,386	109	2,495	233	2	19	2,749
Science	2,537	133	2,670	198	0	19	2,887
Modern foreign languages	1,742	7	1,749	128	1	0	1,878
Total technology	2,055	347	2,402	272	1	7	2,682
History	995	3	998	33	0	3	1,034
Geography	1,025	6	1,031	12	0	2	1,045
Physical education	771	554	1,325	48	0	7	1,380
Art	880	0	880	42	0	0	922
Music	604	7	61 1	31	0	3	645
Religious education	573	3	576	35	0	0	611
Citizenship	185	0	185	0	0	0	185
Other	174	0	174	53	0	4	231
Secondary total	15,472	1,313	16,785	1,220	5	75	18,085
Grand total	23,460	7,801	31,261	1,904	21	109	33,295

Source:

Teacher training agency

⁽⁷⁾ Entrants to date. There will be further intakes in the spring and summer 2003 terms.

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