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3 Dec 2003 : Column 90W—continued
GCSE Examinations
David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what proportion of 15-year-olds in (a) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales achieved (i) five or more A* to C GCSE grades and (ii) five or more GCSE passes in each year since 1997; [140557]
- (2) what proportion of 15 and 16-year-olds in (a) the East Riding of Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales were entered for GCSE examinations in each year since 1997. [140556]
Mr. Miliband: The statistical information requested is detailed in the following table:
(16) Figures for Wales were obtained from the National Assembly for Wales's website
(17) Pupils are aged 15 at the start of the academic year ie 31 August
(18) These provisional figures exclude any adjustments for refugees, which may affect the LEA averages
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Higher Education Funding
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which higher education institutions have had funding for a specific area of research activity withdrawn in the past three years. [141143]
Alan Johnson: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) allocates research funding selectively to universities according to the quality and volume of their research activity as measured in periodic Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs). Institutions receive this funding as block grant and are free to determine their own research focus. The volume of research achieving top quality ratings sharply increased in the 2001 RAE. HEFCE has modified its funding formula to refocus available resources on this highest quality work to ensure our research remains globally competitive.
Legislation
Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pages of (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation his Department put through Parliament in 2002–03. [141123]
Mr. Charles Clarke: In 2002–03, the Department for Education and Skills put through Parliament:
- (a) no pages of primary legislation; and
(b) 925 pages of secondary legislation.
PG Materials (School Screening)
Dr. Murrison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has sought from church authorities on the screening of PG material in schools. [141047]
Mr. Miliband: No guidance has been sought from church authorities on the screening of PG material, or any other teaching or leisure materials, in schools as the Department does not issue guidance on the use of these
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materials in schools. Decisions over the use of such materials in schools are left to the professional judgment of teachers.
School Attendance
Mr. Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils are in (a) private and independent and (b) state schools. [140560]
Mr. Miliband: As at January 2003, there were almost 8.4 million pupils across all schools in England. Of these pupils, some 7.0 per cent. were in independent schools, 92.7 per cent. were in maintained schools 1 and 0.3 per cent. were in other schools 2 .
- 1 Includes maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools as well as pupil referral units.
- 2 Includes non-maintained special schools, city technology colleges and academies.
School Autonomy
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many applications he has received from schools for autonomy under the provisions of the Education Bill; how many of these he has approved; and in which areas autonomy was sought in each case. [140979]
Mr. Miliband: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Ashford (Mr. Green) on 6 October 2003, Official Report, column 1131W.
School Finance
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what formula is used to determine the formula spending share for each school. [140980]
Mr. Miliband: The funding for each school will depend on a number of factors covering both central and local government responsibility. Central Government uses the Education Formula Spending Share formula to allocate education funding for each local education authority. This formula comprises a basic entitlement for each pupil plus top-ups for deprivation and where it costs more to recruit and retain teachers, using data from the New Earnings Survey. The deprivation measures used are (i) children in families in receipt of Income Support; (ii) children in families in receipt of Working Families Tax Credit; (iii) proportion of primary children with English as an additional language and (iv) proportion of secondary children in low-achieving ethnic groups. The primary sub-block and LEA central functions sub-block also include a sparsity factor.
Local education authorities, in consultation with their schools and in accordance with regulations, then decide how much funding to put into the Schools Budget and what factors to use in the local fair funding formula, which allocates funding to individual schools.
Student Finance
Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he intends to publish the results of the student income and expenditure survey for the 2002/03 academic year. [141548]
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Alan Johnson [holding answer 2 December 2003]: The Department published the 2002/03 Student Income and Expenditure Survey on 18 November 2003. The full report can be found on the Department's website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
Mr. Alan Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the 1979 level of student grant would be at today's prices. [140799]
Alan Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
| £ | |
|---|---|
| Parental home | 2,969 |
| London rate | 4,476 |
| Elsewhere rate(22) | 3,753 |
| Board/lodging(23) | 1,552 |
(19) The rate of maintenance grant, before income assessment, applicable to students normally domiciled in England and Wales and studying in the UK.
(20) In 1979/80 a minimum maintenance grant of £335 (£1,010 in 2003/04 prices) was available to all students.
(21) In 2003/04 prices based on the September RPI, excluding mortgage interest payments, at the beginning of the academic year.
(22) The 'elsewhere' rate of grant is applicable to students living away from home and studying outside London.
(23) Special grant arrangements applied to students provided with free board and lodging by their college.
Teacher Vacancies (Suffolk)
Mr. Spring: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many (a) middle and (b) upper school teacher vacancies there have been in Suffolk in each year since 1996–97; and if he will make a statement; [140609]
- (2) how many primary school teacher vacancies there were in Suffolk in each year since 1996–97; and if he will make a statement. [140612]
Mr. Miliband: Information on teacher vacancies is available for nursery, primary and secondary schools. The data for Suffolk Local Education Authority are given in the table.
| Nursery/Primary | Secondary | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 15 | 15 |
| 1998 | 8 | 14 |
| 1999 | 14 | 17 |
| 2000 | 8 | 11 |
| 2001 | 41 | 47 |
| 2002 | 39 | 42 |
| 2003 | 6 | 17 |
(24) Advertised vacancies for full-time permanent appointments (or appointments of at least one term's duration).
Includes vacancies being filled on a temporary basis of less than one term.
Source:
DfES annual form 618G survey of teachers in service and teacher vacancies.
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