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Resources for Children and Learners

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his written ministerial statement of 16 September 2004, Official Report, columns 153–4WS, on Resources for Children and Learners, what funding has been set aside to close the per-pupil funding gap between 16 to 18 year olds in school sixth forms and further education colleges; and if he will make a statement. [191813]

Dr. Howells: On 16 September, the Secretary of State announced that total funding for the post-16 learning and skills sector, excluding Higher Education, will rise to £11 billion by 2007–08. We are doing further work in partnership with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC)
 
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on the details of our spending plans for the learning and skills sector. Details will be published at the time of release of the grant letter to the LSC.

School Exclusions (Somerset)

Mr. Flook: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils have been excluded from (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Somerset in each year since 1997. [191159]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The information requested is shown in the following table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽³²⁾: number and percentage of permanently excluded pupils 1997/98 to 2002/03 Somerset local education authority

	Primary		Secondary
	Number of permanent exclusions	Percentage of the school population(33)	Number of permanent exclusions	Percentage of the school population(33)
1997/98	11	0.03	64	0.22
1998/99	6	0.02	55	0.19
1999/2000	12	0.03	49	0.16
2000/01	15	0.04	38	0.12
2001/02	16	0.04	43	0.13
2002/03	22	0.06	37	0.11

⁽³²⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽³³⁾ The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils, excluding dually registered pupils.

Schools Access Initiative (Buckingham)

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in the Buckingham constituency benefited from the Schools Access Initiative in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [191068]

Margaret Hodge: The Schools Access Initiative (SAI) provides resources to help make schools accessible to disabled pupils. Over the period 2001–02 to 2003–04 we invested £220 million in the SAI.

The funding is allocated to Local Education Authorities and it is for each authority to decide its priorities for spending. The table lists the schools in the Buckingham area that we believe have received funding from the Schools Access Initiative in each of the years 2001–02 to 2003–04:

School name	Total (£000)
2001–02
Gawcott Infant	15,000
Royal Latin	10,000
2002–03
Buckingham Primary	19,000
Cottesloe School (Wing)	35,000
Royal Latin	97,000
Winslow CE Combined	13,000
2003–04
North Marston Infant	2,000
Padbury Infant	12,000
Winslow CE Combined	10,500

Spelling

Mr. Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to promote
 
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spelling with imagery as a method for improving the teaching of spelling in schools. [191360]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Developing good literacy skills, including the ability to spell with accuracy and confidence, is crucial to raising standards in English and other subjects, and for equipping pupils with the skills and knowledge they need for life beyond school.

The National Literacy Strategy's Framework for Teaching sets out detailed guidelines for what pupils should be taught in each year of primary school, including key principles and activities for the teaching and learning of spelling appropriate to individual year groups.

The Framework supports a balanced approach to teaching spelling which includes both the development of phonological awareness as well as the use of visual skills to support pupils in their learning. The use of visual skills might include recognising common letter strings and checking critical features of the word in terms of shape and length.

Through the Primary Strategy schools can access a wealth of materials to support the teaching of literacy. For example the Planning Exemplification and Spelling programme for years 2 and 3 provides teachers with a range of structured activities to support pupils' spelling. These include a variety of highly visual activities such as labelling pictures and diagrams or "spotting the difference" between pairs of similar words.

Suicide

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school pupils have committed suicide where bullying was cited as a cause in each of the last five years. [190968]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: Data on the incidence of suicide where bullying was cited as a cause is not collected centrally and we do not hold this information.

The Department is deeply concerned about the distress bullying causes and the effect it has on lives and we are determined to help schools to tackle the problem. Our guidance pack 'Bullying: Don't Suffer in Silence' and the anti-bullying charter and the anti-bullying website www.dfes.gov.uk/bullying offer detailed advice on preventing and addressing bullying.

In November 2003 the Department launched our anti-bullying charter for schools at the first of a series of nine regional conferences. It is accompanied by a summary of effective practice to help schools review and enhance their anti-bullying policies. July 2004 saw the launch of the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA), a grouping of voluntary sector organisations, including Childline and the NSPCC. The Department has provided funding of £570,000 for the ABA to sustain the momentum for change. As part of this the ABA will launch the first ever national Anti Bullying week in November. A variety of events are planned, both nationally and locally, involving the Department, the ABA and schools. We shall continue to maintain our wholehearted commitment to combating bullying.
 
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Sure Start

Alan Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to extend the Sure Start programme by expanding the number of children's centres beyond the current provision for disadvantaged wards. [191904]

Margaret Hodge: Additional funding for Sure Start announced by the Chancellor in the Budget and the Spending Review is ensuring that we advance further and faster towards our goal of a children's centre for every community and every constituency of this country. We will establish 2,500 children's centres in all of the 20 per cent. most deprived wards in England by 2007–08 and in pockets of deprivation beyond those wards, making Sure Start type services available to the 56 per cent. of poor children who live in those disadvantaged areas.

We will publish in late this year a 10-year strategy for the early years, which will include details of the further roll out of children's centres beyond these disadvantaged areas.

Teaching Staff

Mr. Robathan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants there were in Leicestershire on 1 September (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003 and (d) 2004. [192382]

Mr. Miliband: Information on teaching assistants is collected from the Annual School Census at January of each.

Information for each of the years requested was published in table 20 of the Statistical First Release 34/2004 on 23 September 2004. A copy of this has been placed in the House of Commons Library. The Statistical First Release can also be accessed from the following URL: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000493/index.shtml

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many full-time equivalent (a) teachers and (b) non-teaching assistants there were in local education authority schools in (i) Yorkshire and Humber and (ii) City of York in (A) 1997 and (B) 2004. [191163]

Mr. Miliband: The following table gives the full-time equivalent number of regular teachers, teaching assistants and other support staff in maintained schools in Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region and the City of York local education authority in January 1997 and 2004.

	Regular teachers(34)	Teaching assistants(35)	Support staff (excluding teaching assistants) 2
Yorkshire and the Humber
1997	41,900	7,700	7,400
2004	44,200	15,500	11,400
City of York
1997	1,290	140	180
2004	1,390	400	250

Sources:
⁽³⁴⁾ DfES annual survey of teachers in service (Form 618G)
⁽³⁵⁾ Annual School Census


 
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Teaching assistants include special needs support staff and minority ethnic support staff. Support staff include administrative staff, technicians and other support staff.

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