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Deacon's Academy, Peterborough

Mrs. Helen Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the admission criteria for the proposed Deacon's Academy in Peterborough. [187833]

Mr. Charles Clarke [holding answer 8 September 2004]: I am currently considering proposals to enter into a funding agreement to establish the Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborough. Admissions arrangements form part of these proposals. I hope to reach a decision shortly.
 
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Foreign Language Teaching

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many maintained secondary schools did not offer study of a modern foreign language to (a) any and (b) all pupils at key stage 4 in the last period for which figures are available. [188038]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The Department does not collate information on the numbers of maintained secondary schools offering modern foreign languages to (a) any or (b) all of their pupils at key stage 4. However, modern foreign languages remained part of the National Curriculum at key stage 4 until the end of the last academic year and as such the Department would have expected all schools to offer modern foreign languages to all pupils at key stage 4.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many language assistants are employed in maintained primary schools; [188039]

(2) what estimate he has made of the percentage of (a) children in maintained schools learning a modern foreign language at Key Stage 2 and (b) maintained primary schools teaching a modern foreign language at Key Stage 2. [188040]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: These data are not collected centrally by the Department. We have commissioned baseline research into modern foreign language teaching and learning at Key Stage 2. This report, which was originally planned to be published earlier in the year, will now be published at the end of September. The report will give an indication of these figures, at the time of the survey in 2003.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when his Department will issue an invitation to tender for the operation of the voluntary recognition system for language skills. [188041]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Following a tendering exercise, the contract for the operation of the voluntary recognition system for languages was awarded to the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) in February 2004.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when his Department will introduce the voluntary recognition system for language skills; and which languages will be covered. [188042]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Following a limited pilot in 2004/05, the first suite of external qualifications for the voluntary recognition system for language skills—The Languages Ladder—will be nationally available in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Punjabi, Spanish and Urdu in the academic year 2005/06. A wider range of languages will be on offer from 2006/07 and additional languages will be added to the scheme in subsequent years.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what budget his Department has allocated for the voluntary recognition system for language skills for (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07. [188043]

 
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Mr. Stephen Twigg: £2 million has been allocated for the development and operation of the voluntary recognition system for language skills for each of the years 2004–05 and 2005–06. Until a decision on the allocation of the latest spending review settlement is made, it is not possible to say how much funding has been allocated for 2006–07.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the work of the National Director for Languages. [188044]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Dr. Lid King, previously Director of CILT—The National Centre of Languages, was appointed National Director for Languages in September 2003. Dr. King plays a key role in the implementation of the Government's National Languages Strategy, giving strategic direction, stimulating and co-ordinating action across all sectors, and championing languages in general. He works closely with key stakeholders in primary, secondary, further and higher education, adult learning and business.

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what budget was available to the National Director for Languages in 2003–04; and what budget will be available to that office for financial years (a) 2004–05 and (b) 2005–06. [188045]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The National Languages Strategy is supported by dedicated investment which will rise to £10 million per year by 2005–06. In 2003–04, £4 million was available and in the current financial year, 2004–05, £8 million is available.

Head Teachers

Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average length of time a head teacher spent in post in the (a) primary and (b) secondary sectors was in the latest year for which figures are available. [187752]

Mr. Miliband: Information on teachers' length of service is obtained from the Database of Teachers Records which is maintained primarily for pensions administration purposes. This source provides the total amount of service of teachers since they were first appointed but not the length of time spent in a particular post or at a particular grade.

Table 22 of the School Workforce in England 2003 volume of statistics contains details of the total length of service of current head teachers by phase of education. This publication has been placed in the House of Commons Library or can also be accessed from the following URL: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000380/index.shtml.

Primary Class Sizes

Mr. Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average number of pupils in primary classes in the London Borough of Havering was in (a) 1997 and (b) 2004; and what the figures are for all other London boroughs. [187733]

 
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Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is shown in the table.
Maintained primary schools⁽¹⁸⁾: Average size of one teacher classes 1997 and 2004 (provisional v2)—position in January each year—by local education authority

Local education authority		1997	2004
201	City of London	26.0	(19)—
202	Camden	27.1	27.0
203	Greenwich	26.0	25.7
204	Hackney	26.1	26.1
205	Hammersmith and Fulham	25.3	25.2
206	Islington	26.6	25.7
207	Kensington and Chelsea	25.3	26.1
208	Lambeth	25.2	25.8
209	Lewisham	26.1	25.9
210	Southwark	26.4	25.7
211	Tower Hamlets	26.2	26.1
212	Wandsworth	25.8	26.0
213	Westminster	24.2	26.0
301	Barking and Dagenham	27.0	25.8
302	Barnet	26.2	27.1
303	Bexley	28.8	27.5
304	Brent	26.5	27.3
305	Bromley	28.5	27.2
306	Croydon	28.3	27.1
307	Eating	27.1	26.5
308	Enfield	29.1	27.9
309	Haringey	26.9	27.5
310	Harrow	27.5	26.3
311	Havering	27.9	27.1
312	Hillingdon	27.2	26.5
313	Hounslow	26.8	26.1
314	Kingston upon Thames	29.4	27.0
315	Merton	27.3	25.5
316	Newham	27.9	27.4
317	Redbridge	28.4	27.5
318	Richmond upon Thames	27.2	26.6
319	Sutton	28.1	27.6
320	Waltham Forest	26.6	26.2

⁽¹⁸⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽¹⁹⁾ Provisional figures not available. Final figures available after 30 September.

School Building Projects

Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) average, (b) shortest and (c) longest length of time taken between 1997 and 2004 to complete a building project to expand capacity in a school was from the start of specifying the project to the opening of the new capacity; [187751]

(2) what the (a) average, (b) shortest and (c) longest length of time taken between 1997 and 2004 to complete a building project for a new school was from the start of specifying the project to the opening of the new building. [187750]

Mr. Miliband: School building projects are procured locally, and we do not normally, therefore, collect information on specific projects.

With the advent of the Building Schools for the Future programme, however, the Department intends to collect and use such information to improve procurement timeframes across the sector and to embed best practice over the construction life cycle. This drive for efficiency gains will be reinforced through a performance management regime across the Building Schools for the Future programme.
 
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