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Domestic Violence
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research Government departments have conducted within the past five years into the effects of domestic violence on children; and what the main conclusions were. [159802]
Margaret Hodge: There is considerable research already available conducted by experts in this field of social policy that highlights the effects of domestic violence on children. The main conclusions are that
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children who have been exposed to domestic violence demonstrate more aggression, antisocial behaviour and anger, as well as withdrawal, depression, suicidal behaviour, anxiety, fears, phobias, insomnia and low self-esteem, compared to children who have not suffered these experiences.
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are (a) in place and (b) planned to increase the consistency among geographical areas of standards of domestic violence services aimed at children. [159803]
Margaret Hodge: Local authorities, in partnership with other agencies, both statutory and voluntary, are expected to assess the needs of children in their areas, in accordance with the duties imposed on them by Part III of the Children Act 1989 and then to determine the range of services that will need to be available in order to respond to those needs. This process, inevitably and properly, leads to diversity in the provision of services at local level.
Dyslexia Conference
Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representation his Department plans to have at the Sixth British Dyslexia Association Conference; and if he will make a statement on programmes available to assist dyslexia sufferers. [159944]
Margaret Hodge: A DfES representative has served on the steering group for this event and we hope to send an observer on one of the conference days.
In addition to assisting with planning, the Department has provided grant support to enable a number of promising students to attend the event and a grant for a new conference publication aimed at classroom practitioners. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Skills has also provided a goodwill message for this international event, which will be reproduced in conference literature.
A number of commercially available programmes support children with specific learning difficulties. It is for parents, individual schools and local education authorities to decide whether a given technique has something to offer an individual child in the light of his or her needs.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research his Department has carried out, in addition to the three-year assessments, to assess the impact of education maintenance allowances on participating in the Government-supported training; and if he will make a statement. [155439]
Mr. Ivan Lewis [holding answer 23 February 2004]: Evaluation findings show that the national EMA scheme is expected to increase participation in education at Year 12 by 3.8 per cent. and at Year 13 by 4.1 per cent. Evidence from the pilot EMA areas shows that little of the increase in participation through EMA is from Government Supported Training. Over half of the increase in participation through EMA is from young people who would otherwise not be in any education, employment or training, and most others are
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from work without training. There is some evidence from the pilot areas that suggests an increased flow into Government Supported Training at 18.
Overall EMA supports a range of learning up to level 3. This includes young people doing quality assured NVQs and vocational courses in FE colleges that often incorporate work placements.
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the impact of educational maintenance allowances in improving participation rates in post-16 education. [156634]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: In the pilots, EMA increased participation by 16-year-olds in education by 5.9 per cent. points. Judged against historic trends, this represents a major increase. Our evaluators predict that in the first year of the national scheme, some 35,000 additional young people will participate in further education, and this will rise to over 70,000 per year when EMA is fully in place.
Emotional Intelligence Initiatives
Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what departmental initiatives there are in relation to emotional intelligence; what difficulties have been reported in implementing such initiatives; and how the success of these initiatives is evaluated; [155290]
- (2) what funding his Department provides to (a) schools and (b) local education authorities to develop (i) emotional intelligence and (ii) literacy initiatives; [155292]
(3) which (a) schools, (b) academics and (c) university education departments his Department has assessed as the best practitioners in the field of emotional intelligence; and what his Department regards as best practice in this field. [155293]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department is concerned to promote children's social and emotional development and their social, emotional and behavioural skills (SEBS), which themselves contribute to children's emotional intelligence and emotional literacy.
Promoting positive emotional and social development is a crucial part of educating children. The Department is therefore committed to providing guidance and materials for every stage. Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage covers the emotional and social development of very young children and we are developing associated training materials. The Personal, Social and Health Education framework supports the emotional and social development of children at Key Stages 1 to 4. To supplement that, the Department is piloting specific Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS) materials for primary schools in 25 local education authorities (LEAs) and developing similar materials for secondary schools.
The Department is investing £600,000 in SEBS materials for primary schools over two years. The pilot is in the early stages of implementation but initial feedback from schools is very positive. It will be evaluated by the University of London's Institute of Education. The Foundation and secondary materials are still at the initial development stage.
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The development of SEBS materials is informed by existing good practice in a number of LEAs including Southampton, Bristol, Portsmouth, Cumbria, Merton, East Riding of Yorkshire, Brighton and Hove and Nottingham City. The Department is also advised by an expert SEBS practitioners group including academics from the universities of Southampton, Oxford and Middlesex, a range of voluntary bodies including the National Children's Bureau, the NSPCC and Antidote, senior school staff and LEA officers.
EU Accession Citizens
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate the Government have made of how many EU accession country citizens will make use of the education system in the UK at each level. [157348]
Alan Johnson: From 1 May children living within the UK who come from the accession countries will have access to education here. In addition, students who attend Further and Higher Education Institutions will have home fee status as long as they have been resident within an acceding country for three years.
The Government commissioned work from independent academic experts on likely numbers of migrants arriving which is published and available on the Home Office website. We will monitor the situation post enlargement to ensure that the impact on schools, FE and HE is understood. Government departments are working together to ensure that all the available data are brought together to offer a rounded picture of the impact of accession and as well as feeding into this we will be looking to use the results to inform the picture for education.
For Higher Education we have been collecting data on the nationality of students, including those from accession countries for some years. We estimate a one-off increase in the number of EU students in the UK of perhaps about 8 per cent. as a result of EU enlargement. Our January HEFCE Grant letter took account of the expansion of the EU due to take place in 2004, and so did the Additional Student Numbers (ASN) exercise that HEFCE are currently running for foundation degrees. We have already forecasted for growth in new EU students and will continue to do so in the next Spending Review. It is important to remember that since we do not give maintenance to students from the EU, coming to study in the UK is not a 'cheap option' for them; they still have to find ways to support their living costs themselves.
EU Enlargement
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which UK agencies are best able to (a) assist with recognising educational backgrounds and skills of migrant workers and (b) help the UK employment sector to take advantage of the enlargement of the EU. [157363]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government welcome EU enlargement and expect that it will have a positive impact on the UK, allowing us to benefit from a wider skills market to fill key labour and skills gaps and boost productivity.
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The UK National Reference Point (NRP) for Vocational Qualifications has been set up by UK Government to explain vocational qualifications (VQs) and particularly how UK VQs relate to ones elsewhere in Europe. The UK National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) advises on the comparability of overseas educational qualifications with those from the UK.
Jobcentre Plus is able to assist employers in the UK and migrant workers from the new member states to fill vacancies and find appropriate work. Jobcentre Plus, through its EURES adviser network is also able to advise employers and jobseekers about comparability of qualifications through the NARIC Global Qualifications database.
Mr. Nigel Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of how enlargement of the EU will affect the skills shortage in the United Kingdom. [157362]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government welcome EU enlargement and expect that it will have a positive impact on the UK, allowing us to benefit from a wider skills market to fill key labour and skills gaps and boost productivity. The UK has the strongest labour market for a generation and this puts us in a good position to absorb any additional migrant flows. Free movement of workers within a larger EU will complement the work we are doing to address the skills gaps that exist currently within our own workforce, which are predominantly in the Business Services and construction sectors.
As announced by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary, A8-nationals who want to work in the UK will be required to apply to register as a worker once they have found a job. The benefit of this new light-touch worker registration scheme is that it will expand the range of skills and supply of workers available across the UK and allow us to monitor the types of work that accession country nationals are entering in the UK. Through our labour market data we will also be able to tell the impact on the UK labour market as a whole.
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