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12 Jan 2004 : Column 583W—continued
School Fruit Scheme
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Government have spent centrally on administering the National School Fruit Scheme in (a) 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [141789]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
The Department of Health spent £0.75 million in 2001–02 and £0.3 million in 2002–03 on administering and evaluating National School Fruit Scheme pilots, including the cost of the fruit. In 2002–03 and 2003–04 the lottery-funded New Opportunities Fund has been supporting a scaling-up of the original pilots region by region with £42 million. From 2004–05 the scheme will be rolled out to all local education authority infant schools in England with full funding by the Department of Health.
School Meals
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will make a statement on provision of school meals by Essex county council; [146625]
- (2) what statutory requirements there are on local education authorities to provide school meals; and if he will make a statement. [146627]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Local education authorities have a duty to provide free and paid for school meals that meet nutritional standards. Where a school has a delegated budget for meals, the governing body takes on these responsibilities. From April 2000, funding for school meals was delegated to all secondary schools. Primary and special schools can opt for delegation.
From April 2004, Essex county council will delegate the budget for primary school meals. Primary school governing bodies will have the freedom to choose what form school meals should take, including the type of dishes served and the ingredients which are used. They can also choose the suppliers or providers for the school meal service.
12 Jan 2004 : Column 584W
Specialist Schools
Mr. Luff: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in each local education authority area have specialist school status in the current financial year; and what the total funding made available in the current financial year under the programme is in each local education authority area. [145430]
Mr. Miliband: The information requested is set out in the following table.
Designated specialist schools receive a one-off £100,000 capital grant and £126 per pupil per annum for four years.
12 Jan 2004 : Column 586W
Teaching Methods
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 15 December 2003, Official Report, column 669W, if he will make a statement on the relationship between ability grouping and (a) personalised learning and (b) teaching tailored to the needs of pupils; and what the role of central government is in implementing these teaching practices. [145527]
Mr. Miliband: Ability grouping is one measure by which schools can personalise the learning and tailor teaching to the needs of pupils. However, it is possible to identify a list of benefits and limitations for the main kinds of ability grouping at the level of the institution, teacher and pupil. It is for schools within the context of their particular circumstances to develop and determine for themselves which forms of ability grouping have the most positive impact for different groups of pupils within different learning contexts (such as different subject areas).
Through the primary and Key Stage 3 national strategies we will be making available to teachers later this year support in assessment for learning techniques and approaches to promote personalised learning.
12 Jan 2004 : Column 587W
Toilet Training
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the number of children who have been adequately toilet trained prior to entry to school. [146728]
Margaret Hodge: My Department has not assessed how many children have been adequately toilet trained prior to entry to school.
Value Added Improvements
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to address difficulties in assessing value added improvements in secondary schools where part of their intake have not previously been evaluated in terms of SATS and teacher assessment. [146560]
Mr. Miliband: Value added measures for schools can only be calculated using existing data. Given that all pupils of compulsory school age attending maintained mainstream schools follow the National Curriculum, there are only a very small number who were not assessed at the end of the earlier key stage—for example, only 3 per cent. of 15-year-olds had no prior attainment data at Key Stage 3 in the 2003 performance tables.
Though most schools will be unaffected, we accept that a small number might have a significant proportion of pupils with no prior attainment data—for example, pupils from overseas. This is why we publish a coverage indicator in the performance tables which shows the percentage of pupils on which the value added calculation is based.
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