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4 Oct 2004 : Column 1804W—continued
Higher Education (Manchester)
Mr. Keith Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students whose home address is in the City of Manchester went into higher education in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05. [189458]
Dr. Howells: The available information from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) covers applicants accepted to full-time undergraduate courses at UK institutions. The latest figures are for entry in 2003.
| Year of entry | Accepted applicants |
|---|---|
| 2001 | 2,074 |
| 2002 | 2,214 |
| 2003 | 2,414 |
Source:
UCAS
Mathematics
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what content has been removed from the course of study required for mathematics at (a) GCSE level and (b) A level under each examination board since 2001. [189355]
Mr. Charles Clarke:
No content has been removed from the programme of study for maths at GCSE. Following a consultation with maths subject associations and schools, in autumn 2002, there was
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some alteration to the GCE criteria for the AS Level. Some of the larger topics were moved to A2 (the second year of study for A level) because the consultation revealed that the AS Level was overloaded with content. Maths at AS Level and at A Level remains a rigorous and challenging subject. The changes have been widely welcomed by the maths community.
Minimum Funding Guarantee
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) whether it is his policy that a minimum funding guarantee overrides existing fair funding formulae; and if he will make a statement on the Audit Commission's observation to that effect on page 11 of its publication Education Funding; [189270]
(2) what representations the Department has received from (a) local education authorities and (b) their representative bodies concerning the effect of the minimum funding guarantee on agreed local authority formulae for distributing funds to schools; [189277]
(3) if he will make a statement on the finding of the Audit Commission study that showed that councils have suspended changes to their formula because they are unclear about the Government's intentions with regard to the minimum funding guarantee. [189314]
Mr. Miliband: The minimum funding guarantee that was introduced in 2004–05 has brought stability and certainty to schools budgets. It was considered appropriate to put in place such stability given the funding difficulties experienced by some schools in 2003–04. As a result of the introduction of the minimum funding guarantee two thirds of schools nationally received an increase above the level of the minimum guarantee while the remaining third of schools received a per pupil increase in funding in line with the guarantee.
The proposals for the minimum funding guarantee (including specifically provisions for exclusions, special cases and small schools) were developed in close consultation with our national partners, including representatives of local authorities and Chief Education Officers. Provision was made in the regulations to enable local education authorities to apply to the Secretary of State to amend the operation of the minimum funding guarantee where there was a clear anomaly in the outcome for individual schools or groups of schools.
Changes to a local education authority's funding formulae are matters for local discretion provided that they operate within the framework of the regulations. While the Audit Commission reports that some councils have suspended proposed changes to their funding formula, the survey was based on a sample of LEAs and was carried out before the start of the financial year 2004–05. Evidence from other authorities shows that there is no inherent need to suspend changes to formulae as a result of the minimum funding guarantee. Some authorities, in fact, have used the guarantee to provide transitional protection to ensure that such changes are phased in appropriately to ensure stability in school budgets.
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Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what approaches have been made by Sefton local education authority to his Department seeking to amend Sefton's formula for the distribution of school funding in the last three years; [189313]
(2) whether he has objected to proposals from Sefton local education authority to change their formula for the distribution of funds to schools in the last four years; and if he will make a statement. [189271]
Mr. Miliband: Under regulation 28 of the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations, the Secretary of State has power to approve 'additional arrangements' whereby the normal national rules for school funding formulae are set aside in favour of a purpose-built local solution, in circumstances where significantly anomalous results would result from the application of the national rules.
During the period in question, Sefton local education authority made one application to the Secretary of State for an additional arrangement under regulation 28, in relation to the application of the minimum funding guarantee during the 2004–05 financial year. This application was turned down because it paid insufficient regard to the impact of the minimum funding guarantee on individual schools. The authority was invited to put forward an amended application, but did not do so.
Nurseries
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many (a) announced and (b) unannounced inspections of nurseries took place in each of the last five years; [189405]
(2) how many nurseries were de-registered by Ofsted in each of the last five years; [189406]
(3) how many complaints about child care providers Ofsted has received in each of the last five years. [189465]
Margaret Hodge: These are matters for the Office of Standards in Education (Ofsted) and I have asked HM Chief Inspector for Schools, David Bell, to write to the hon. Gentleman and place a copy of his letter in the Library.
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many (a) nurseries and (b) nursery places have been closed in each of the last five years; [189407]
(2) how many registered nurseries there were in each of the last five years, broken down by those (a) publicly provided, (b) privately provided and (c) provided by the voluntary sector. [189404]
Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information on the numbers of day nurseries (or full day care providers) and the number of available nursery places in England is shown in the tables.
With the introduction of the National Day Care Standards and the transfer of responsibilities for registration and inspection to Ofsted, childcare providers are now classified according to whether they are full day care, sessional day care, childminder, out of school day care or creche day care places. Previously, childcare providers were classified according to whether
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they were day nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools, childminders, out of school clubs or holiday schemes. Therefore, figures for 2003 and 2004 are not directly comparable with figures for earlier years because they are collected on a different basis.
The latest statistics on the number of full day care providers registered in England were published on 22 July 2004 in a report by Ofsted "Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 30 June 2004". The report is available on the Ofsted web-site, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.
| Position as at March 31 | Number of day nurseries (7) | Number of places in day nurseries (7) |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | (8)— | (8)— |
| 2001 | 7,800 | 285,100 |
| 2000 | 7,500 | 264,200 |
| 1999 | 7,000 | 247,700 |
(6) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
(7) Figures derived from local authority estimates reported on the Day Care Facilities Survey.
(8) Information not available.
| Position as at March 31 | Number of registered full day care providers (10) | Number of places in registered full day care providers (10) |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 11,000 | 456,300 |
| 2003 | 9,600 | 381,600 |
(9) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100.
(10) Data supplied by Ofsted.
The Department does not collect information on the ownership and management of full day care providers on a regular basis. However, according to the Childcare and Early Years Workforce Survey for 2002–03 there were around three quarters of full day care providers who were privately-owned and one in ten who were being run by a voluntary, church or community group in England in 2003. The remainder were run by either the local authority, school/college or by some other form of provider. The figures from this Survey were published in a report by Sure Start in May 2004 "2002–03 Childcare and Early Years Workforce Survey: Day Nurseries and other Full-day Care provision". The report is available on the Sure Start web-site, www.surestart/ensurequality/research/earlyyears/workforce/.
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