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Faith Schools
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools that select some or all of their pupils on the basis of faith have (i) opened and (ii) closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [110137]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools selected some or all of their pupils on the basis of faith in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [110138]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the Libraries.
General Teaching Council
Vernon Coaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to review the categories of teachers exempted from the General Teaching Council fee payable as a result of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998; and if he will make a statement. [109998]
Mr. Miliband: Current regulations authorise the General Teaching Council to charge a registration fee and to decide whether there should be exceptions where
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a fee is not charged. The Council has not exercised its powers to exempt any registered teacher from paying the fee. We have no plans to review these regulations.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding was received by the General Teaching Council from his Department in each year since its creation. [110130]
Mr. Miliband: Funding provided by this Department to the General Teaching Council (GTC) is as follows:
| GTC | |
|---|---|
| 2000–01 | (6)4,000,000 |
| 2001–02 | 9,024,000 |
| 2002–03 | 3,735,000 |
| 2003–04 | 1,443,000 |
(6) Grant in aid payments to the GTC began in September 2000. Funding in 2000–01 therefore covered the period September 2000 to March 2001 inclusive.
Learning Support Units
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many learning support units in England (a) opened and (b) closed in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [110144]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 28 April 2003]: The Department does not collate information on the number of LSUs which have opened and closed each year in each LEA.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding each learning support unit has attracted in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [110146]
Mr. Miliband [holding answer 28 April 2003]: The Department does not collect data on the funding of all Learning Support Units (LSUs). Decisions on funding arrangements for LSUs are taken at local level.
A number of DfES initiatives have made funding available to support LSUs. LSUs are also funded through the overall resources available to Local Education Authorities and schools.
Parental Choice
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children failed to gain a place at the school of their choice in (a) primary schools, (b) secondary schools, (c) special schools and (d) all schools in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [110125]
Mr. Miliband: The Department does not keep statistics on how many children fail to gain a place at the school of their choice at primary, secondary and special schools. Individual local education authorities may have information. Collecting reliable data is difficult, because many parents apply for places at more than one school and it may not be clear which is their first preference. Research published by the Department in June 2001 suggested that, nationally, 96 per cent. of parents receive an offer of a place at at least one of the schools for which they express a preference.
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Prince's Trust
Mr. Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on schemes operated by the Prince's Trust in each of the past 10 years. [109728]
Mr. Charles Clarke: Information held for financial years before 1999–2000 can be provided only at disproportionate cost. I list in the table the amounts paid to the Prince's Trust in the years 1999–2000 to 2002–03 inclusive. All payments were for activities carried out in respect of the European Social Fund. This function has now transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions.
| Financial Year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1999–2000 | 1,236,397.74 |
| 2000–01 | 351,239.00 |
| 2001–02 | 200,611.00 |
| 2002–03 | 444,952.00 |
Private Finance Initiative
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many PFI contracts his Department or its agencies (a) have with and (b) are being tendered for by (i) Amey plc and (ii) consortia involving Amey plc; what the total value is of those contracts; what the average length is of the contracts or proposed contracts; and what assessment his Department has made of the financial position of Amey plc and the implications for his Department. [108330]
Mr. Miliband: The Department for Education and Skills does not itself have any PFI contracts. It has a PPP arrangement for the provision of the Connexions Card but this does not involve Amey pic. The Department does not have any agencies but is responsible for a number of Non Departmental Public Bodies which are separate contracting authorities. Schools PFI contracts in England are between Local Authorities and the private sector and 56 such contracts have been signed to date. Typically they are contracts for between 25 and 30 years. Two of these contracts involve consortia including Amey pic. However, since contract signature Amey has sold its equity stake in these projects although it continues to deliver support services. The position of equity holders in projects can vary over time but this does not necessarily impact on the quality, continuity or the ongoing financial viability of the project itself. The procurement process includes an assessment of the financial viability of bids to ensure they are robust over the long term and the contracts include arrangements for dealing with possible early termination.
Pupil Absences
Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential liability incurred by schools or local education authorities in the event of pupils coming to harm while absent from school without authorisation, but in a situation where their absence has been encouraged or condoned by a teacher. [109415]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: None. Such assessments would be for schools and local education authorities to consider.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the number of half days missed through (i) unauthorised and (ii) authorised absence in (A) primary and (B) secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [110121]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department commissions the national pupil absence survey each year which collects the total number of authorised and unauthorised half days missed from all primary, secondary and special schools in England. Departmental evaluation of this data informs our strategies to improve attendance and tackle truancy in all schools.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many children have played truant in each month of this academic year, broken down by local authority; [110094]
- (2) what figures he has collated on the number of children who have played truant in each academic year since 1997, broken down by (a) gender, (b) LEA and (c) ethnic group. [110109]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The data for the national pupil absence survey is collected at school level once a year after the spring term. No data for 2002/03 will be available until the autumn and this will only show the overall number of children that actually missed at least one half day due to unauthorised absence for the academic year from September 2002 to May 2003. The data cannot be broken down by month.
The national pupil absence survey only collects one set of figures for each school and information on the characteristics of individual pupils cannot be deduced from this to provide breakdowns by (a) gender or (c) ethnic group. The information collected at school level for the academic year September to May, is as follows:
- Total number of sessions
Number of sessions missed due to authorised absence
Number of pupils absent for at least one session due to authorised absence
Number of sessions missed due to unauthorised absence
Number of pupils absent for at least one session due to unauthorised absence
Each session represents one half day.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many officials in his Department are employed on projects and initiatives to reduce truancy. [110097]
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Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for Education and Skills has ten officials working exclusively on the co-ordination and implementation of projects and initiatives to reduce truancy and improve attendance. The work of many other officials within the Department—and in other Departments—also contributes to these aims.
Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on projects and initiatives to reduce truancy in schools since 1997. [110101]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: A wide range of national and local projects and initiatives to reduce truancy has been introduced since 1997, involving schools, local authorities and many other stakeholders. It is therefore not possible to calculate overall expenditure on measures of this sort.
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