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6 May 2004 : Column 1747W—continued

Child Abuse

Ms Shipley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what restrictions there are on convicted child abusers working (a) as private tutors and (b) in private schools. [165944]

Margaret Hodge: My Department's guidance to employers in the education service makes it clear that thorough checks should be carried out on all people who are appointed to work with children, including people who are employed as private tutors by agencies, and people who work in private schools. We recommend that employers check a person's identity, academic qualifications, professional and character references, previous employment history, criminal record, List 99 status, health, and in the case of teachers, whether they are registered with the General Teaching Council.

Parents and other individuals are not able to obtain criminal record or List 99 checks on self-employed private tutors, but can safeguard against employing a convicted child abuser by engaging a private tutor through a tuition agency.

Connexions

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people with learning disabilities have used the Connexions Service, broken down by region, in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement. [170397]

Margaret Hodge: Information on the use of Connexions services by young people with learning disabilities is not collected centrally.

In support of their key target of reducing the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training, many Connexions Partnerships have agreed a local target to increase the proportion of 16–19 year olds with learning difficulties and disabilities in education, employment and training. It is encouraging that there was a small increase of two percentage points in the numbers of young people with learning difficulties and disabilities in education, employment or training between June 2003 and March 2004.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received concerning the effect on private contractors of his Department's encouragement of Connexions partnerships to improve tax efficiency; and if he will make a statement. [169977]

 
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Margaret Hodge: My Department has received a number of representations from private companies, Connexions Partnerships and other organisations regarding the effect on private contractors of the need to reduce VAT transition funding.

The decision about what tax efficiency means for each partnership, is the responsibility of individual Boards. Establishing a tax efficient delivery model does not necessarily affect the relationship with private sector companies. But the Department remains in discussion with representatives from Connexions service providers and will continue to consider any issues that they bring forward.

Some partnerships have for some time been in the process of changing their model of governance. The need for tax efficiencies has not always been the catalyst for this but it does bring these partnerships in to line with others looking at how they structure themselves to become more tax efficient.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many contracts between the Connexions Service and private contractors have been terminated in the last year; and if he will make a statement. [169978]

Margaret Hodge: One private sector contract has been terminated in the last year by Essex Southend and Thurrock Connexions Partnership. In addition, Lifetime Careers (part of the Nord Anglia group) were not selected by Greater Manchester Connexions to deliver services in Stockport and Bury in 2004–05 following a competitive tendering exercise.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many subcontracting Connexions Partnerships have a local authority as the lead body for the receipt of grant. [169979]

Margaret Hodge: Of the 47 Connexions Partnerships, there are three subcontracting Connexions Partnerships who have a local authority as the lead body—Hertfordshire Connexions, Norfolk Connexions and Central London Connexions.

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many private sector contractors have been used by the Connexions Service in each year since its establishment. [169981]

Margaret Hodge: Connexions Partnerships are themselves private companies. Many will also sub contract some services to other private sector companies. Information on the numbers involved is not collected centrally.

Dyslexia

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to identify cases of dyslexia at the earliest opportunity; and if he will make a statement. [169133]

Margaret Hodge: Early intervention is one of the key themes of "Removing Barriers To Achievement", our strategy for special educational needs, published in February. Guidance on identifying and assessing special educational needs is given in the SEN Code of Practice, to which schools and local education authorities must
 
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have regard. A range of material for teachers on dyslexia and dyscalculia has also been produced as part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies to help promote inclusion of pupils with specific learning difficulties. The guidance has been well received and other material is in preparation.

The Department continues to work closely with the British Dyslexia Association and the Dyslexia Institute to help raise awareness and develop new resources that will be of practical assistance to teachers and other staff. We have, for example, supported a dyslexia friendly schools pack and a handy hints poster for primary schools. The Department has also supported research into eye movement characteristics as a possible means of identifying dyslexia.

Early Years Education

Mr. Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps have been taken to deliver Early Years education in rural areas; and if he will make a statement. [167876]

 
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Margaret Hodge: All authorities have received sufficient funding to enable them to fund free places for all three and four-year-olds whose parents want one, through the under-fives sub-block of their Education Formula Spending Share (EFSS)—the main source of funding for education. For 2004–05, over £2.6 billion of EFSS was distributed through the under-five sub-block. The funding includes 'top ups' which relate to the LA's local circumstances i.e. deprivation and area costs.

Education (Heywood and Middleton)

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many and what percentage of pupils in Heywood and Middleton reached the (a) mathematics and (b) English standard in each of the last seven years; [168502]

(2) how many and what percentage of 11-year-old pupils in Heywood and Middleton reached level four in (a) mathematics and (b) English in each of the last seven years. [168503]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is as follows:

	Pupils achieving Level 4+: Mathematics			Pupils achieving Level 4+: English
	Heywood and Middleton		England	Heywood and Middleton		England
	Number	Percentage	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Percentage
2003	936	69	73	927	69	75
2002	1,031	72	73	1,069	75	75
2001	981	69	71	1,056	74	75
2000	975	72	72	991	73	75
1999	993	72	69	997	72	71
1998	790	58	59	882	65	65
1997	787	61	62	780	61	63

Jim Dobbin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding was spent on higher education in Heywood and Middleton in each of the last seven years. [168505]

Alan Johnson: The only publicly-funded institution providing higher education in Heywood and Middleton is Hopwood Hall College. The amounts of public funding spent in the years for which figures are available are shown in the table. Expenditure was by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and by the Student Loans Company (SLC). The latter relates only to spending on tuition fees, student loans (cash cost) and the dependants grant. Data prior to 1999/2000 are not available. The figures for student support do not include spending on other additional grants, namely, disabled students allowance, care leavers grant and travel grant. These were paid through local education authorities, up to 2003/04, and figures are not held centrally.
£000

Academic Year	HEFCE funding	SLC funding
1999/2000	264	183.9
2000/01	273	232.5
2001/02	342.5	367.3
2002/03	443	405.7
2003/04	508.2	n/a

In addition, institutions located outside Heywood and Middleton may be undertaking activities in the area, for example, outreach to raise the attainment and aspirations of potential higher education entrants, or special arrangements with schools and colleges to improve progression into higher education. This information is not held centrally.

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