| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
9 Nov 2004 : Column 592W—continued
Education Maintenance Allowance
Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in the Dagenham constituency are receiving education maintenance allowance. [196451]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: By the end of October 967 young people from the Barking and Dagenham local authority area had received an EMA Notice of Entitlement. Of those, 722 had enrolled for EMA at a school or college and 672 had received an EMA payment. These figures continue to improve as those who apply late have their applications assessed and then become eligible for payment.
Entry to Employment Programme
Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people have taken part in the Entry to Employment programme since it was introduced in 2003. [196345]
Mr. Ivan Lewis:
This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.
9 Nov 2004 : Column 593W
Phil Sawford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people started on the Entry to Employment programme in 2003–04; and how many places for new starts will be available in 2004–05. [196479]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council. Mark Haysom, the Council's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member with this information and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.
Foreign Language Teaching
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of primary schools offer a foreign language to their pupils. [196456]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: On 30 September this year my Department published the results of research, undertaken in the 2002–03 academic year, into the extent and nature of foreign language learning activities at Key Stage 2. This research highlighted that 44 per cent. of all schools teaching Key Stage 2 pupils in England were offering language learning programmes in some form, with 35 per cent. using curriculum time to do so. This represents a significant increase since the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and University of Warwick published research in 2000 that stated that 20 per cent. of primary schools were teaching foreign languages.
Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to promote foreign language teaching in schools; and if he will make a statement. [196457]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Since the publication of the National Languages Strategy in December 2002, we have made much progress with promoting Modern Foreign Languages in both primary and secondary schools.
Nineteen local education authorities have taken up Key Stage 2 language pathfinder roles to develop ways of delivering primary languages; we are consulting on a draft framework for the teaching and learning of Key Stage 2 languages; we have recently committed £5 million to support primary language learning in 2005–06; and by the end of this year will have trained well over 1,000 new teachers with a modern foreign language specialism.
A Framework to support the teaching, planning and learning of Modern Foreign Languages at Key Stage 3 was introduced into schools in 2003, and is already being used widely. A new voluntary assessment scheme to recognise and accredit individuals' language skills—The Languages Ladder—is currently being piloted in three languages and will be made available to all schools in eight languages from September 2005. We are also seeking to increase the range of vocational and academic options that are available to young people who wish to learn a language at Key Stage 4.
Foster Carers
Annabelle Ewing: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans he has to introduce a national standard for fostering. [195084]
9 Nov 2004 : Column 594W
Margaret Hodge: All fostering agencies are already under a statutory obligation to comply with the Fostering Services Regulations 2002 and are expected to meet the Fostering Services National Minimum Standards 2002. The Standards are intended to assess the quality of care provided by fostering service providers in relation to the needs of looked after children. The Commission for Social Care Inspection is responsible for the inspection and regulation of fostering service providers against these standards and encourages improvement in the quality of the care provided through its inspection reports and performance assessment of councils.
Foundation Schools
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he intends to take to increase accountability (a) in decision-making and (b) in the use of public funds for (i) governors of foundation schools and (ii) governors appointed by charitable foundations. [196091]
Mr. Miliband: The existing legal framework within which foundation schools operate provides for accountability in decision-making and the use of public funds. All governors of maintained schools of any category, however they are elected or appointed, are subject to the same requirements with regard to their conduct, and all governing bodies are collectively accountable for their decisions. Governors are equally accountable to those who appoint them, to the school's funders, and to parents, pupils and the wider community.
Free Fruit Scheme
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the annual cost of extending the free fruit scheme to Key Stage 2 pupils. [195746]
Miss Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
No estimate has been made about the annual cost of extending the school fruit and vegetable scheme to Key Stage 2 pupils.
The Department has set aside £77 million over the 2004–05 and 2005–06 financial years to fund the school fruit and vegetable scheme. A full evaluation of the scheme is due in the first half of 2005.
Once the rollout is complete at the end of November, two million four to six-year-olds in 16,500 local education authority-maintained infant, primary and special schools across England will be receiving a fresh piece of fruit or vegetable each school day.
Free School Meals
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils are eligible for free school meals in each ward, listed in descending order. [192770]
Mr. Stephen Twigg:
It is the Department's policy not to publish figures about individual schools unless the schools concerned have had the opportunity to check or confirm that information with the performance tables.
9 Nov 2004 : Column 595W
Free school meal figures are not routinely checked with schools. Certain wards only have one individual school for instance. Therefore as my answer contains confidential information, I will communicate privately with my right hon. Friend.
Free School Transport
Brian Cotter: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in North Somerset receive free transport to school provided by the local authority. [196616]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: We do not routinely collect that information. However a joint survey of school transport policies, expenditure and pupil numbers transported, conducted in 2003 by DfES and the Confederation of Education Service Managers (ConfEd) reported the following:
Source:
DfES/ConfEd "Home to School Transport Survey" 2003
Havering School Funding
John Cryer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much public funding has been allocated to schools within the London borough of Havering under the school Standards Fund since 1998. [196708]
Mr. Miliband: Standards Fund grants are allocated to local education authorities, not directly to schools. The amount allocated to schools is a matter for local decision. The following table gives the Standards Fund recurrent and capital allocations, including local authority contributions, for the London borough of Havering from 1998–99 to 2004–05. From 1999–2000 the Standards Fund included a grant to support the statutory reduction of infant class sizes. In 2003–04 this class size funding was transferred to Education Formula Spending baselines. The amount transferred for Havering was £535,000.
9 Nov 2004 : Column 596W
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |