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Education (Lewisham)

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many childcare places have been provided in the Lewisham, Deptford constituency since 1997. [201104]

Margaret Hodge: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information on child care places and nursery education places is shown in the tables.

The available information on child care places, for Lewisham local authority area, is shown in tables 1 and 2.
Table 1: Number^(13)(14) of registered childcare places for children under eight years of age by type of care. Lewisham localauthority area Position at 31 March each year 2003 and 2004

Type of care	2003	2004
Full day care	2,200	2,500
Sessional day care	800	700
Childminders	1,200	1,600
Out of school day care	1,300	1,600
Crèche day care	200	200

⁽¹³⁾ Rounded to the nearest 100 places.
⁽¹⁴⁾ Data Source: Ofsted



Table 2: Number^(15)(16) of day care places for children under eight years of age by type of provider. Lewisham local authority area Position at 31 March each year 1997–2001

Type of provider	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001
Day nurseries	1,440	(17)—;	1,600	1,700	2,100
Playgroups and pre-schools	880	(17)—;	960	1,000	910
Childminders	1,400	(17)—;	1,200	1,200	1,200
Out of school clubs	950	(17)—;	940	930	1,700
Holiday schemes(18)	960	(17)—;	1,100	(19)1,000	1,700

⁽¹⁵⁾ Rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 places.
2 Data Source: Children's Day Care Facilities Survey.
⁽¹⁶⁾ Not available.
4 From 1999, places were counted once for each school holiday. Before 1999, places were counted once each year.
5 Includes schemes that were exempt from registration.

The figures for child care places for 2003 and 2004 are not directly comparable with the day care figures for 1997/2001. The figures for 2003 and 2004 were derived from the Ofsted database of registered child care providers. The figures for 1997/2001 were derived from the Children's Day Care Facilities Survey, which was discontinued in 2001. There are no figures for 2002.

With the introduction of the National Day Care Standards and the transfer of responsibilities for registration and inspection of childcare providers from local authority social service departments to Ofsted in September 2001, childcare places were classified according to the type of day care provided: full day care,
 
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sessional day care, childminder, out of school day care or crèche day care. Ofsted have produced figures based on this classification on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published on 21 October 2004 in their report "Registered Childcare Providers and Places, 30 September 2004", which is available on their website, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.

Up until March 2001, childcare providers were classified according to the type of provider: day nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools, childminders, out of school clubs and holiday schemes. Figures based on this classification were published in a series of Statistical Bulletins, which are available from the Department's website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.

The available information on nursery education places, for Lewisham local education authority area, is shown in table 3.
Table 3: Number^(17)(16) of free nursery education places taken up by three and four year olds, Lewisham local education authority areaMaintained schools and private, voluntary and independent providers of early years education Position in January each year 1997

	Number
1997	4,300
1998	4,400
1999	4,900
2000	5,800
2001	5,900
2002	6,000
2003	5,900
2004	5,700

⁽¹⁷⁾ Rounded to the nearest 100 places.
⁽¹⁸⁾ Data Source: Annual Schools Census, Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise and Early Years Census.

All four-year-olds in England have been entitled to a free part-time early education place since September 1998. All three-year-olds in England have been entitled to a free part-time early education place since April 2004. The latest figures on early education places for three and four year olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 39/2004 "Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2004 (final)", which is available on the Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.

Exeter University

Dr. Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment he has made of whether adequate alternative provision will be made for the undergraduate chemistry students if the proposed closure by Exeter University of its undergraduate chemistry provision proceeds as planned; and what discussions he has had with the Vice Chancellor of the university concerning such provision; [202624]

(2) what assessment he has made of whether adequate alternative provision will be made for the undergraduate chemistry students if the proposed closure by Exeter University of its undergraduate chemistry provision proceeds as planned; and what discussions he has had with the Vice-Chancellor of the university concerning such provision. [202656]

 
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Dr. Howells: The Secretary of State has had no direct discussions with the Vice-Chancellor of Exeter University. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous organisations responsible for their own academic direction and strategic use of funds. However, I understand that the University is working closely with the students to ensure that all their individual needs are met. A number of universities have indicated they would be willing to accept students on transfer if appropriate. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) is monitoring the situation closely.

Faith Schools

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many faith schools there were in England in each year since 2000, broken down by religion. [204985]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The requested information is given in the tables.
Maintained primary schools⁽¹⁹⁾: Number of schools by religious character—position in January each year: 2000 to 2004—England

	Number of primary schools
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
No religious character	11,782	11,708	11,639	11,536	11,449
Church of England	4,523	4,509	4,505	4,493	4,482
Roman Catholic	1,752	1,747	1,733	1,724	1,723
Methodist	28	28	28	27	26
Other Christian faith(20)	47	47	48	49	50
Jewish	25	26	28	28	28
Muslim	0	2	2	2	2
Sikh	1	1	1	1	1
Other	0	1	1	1	1
Total	18,158	18,069	17,985	17,861	17,762

⁽¹⁹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽²⁰⁾ Includes schools of mixed denomination or other Christian beliefs.
Source:
Annual Schools Census




Maintained secondary schools⁽²¹⁾: Number of schools by religious character—position in January each year: 2000 to 2004—England

	Number of secondary schools
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
No religious character	2,967	2,899	2,871	2,850	2,819
Church of England	193	191	192	197	199
Roman Catholic	356	357	357	352	352
Methodist	0	0	0	0	0
Other Christian faith(22)	27	27	28	28	30
Jewish	5	5	5	5	5
Muslim	0	0	2	2	2
Sikh	1	1	1	1	1
Other	1	1	1	1	1
Total	3,550	3,481	3,457	3,436	3,409

⁽²¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽²²⁾ Includes schools of mixed denomination or other Christian beliefs.
Source:
Annual Schools Census

Family Resolutions Projects

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when CAFCASS first agreed the Family Resolutions project. [203941]

Margaret Hodge: The Family Resolutions Pilot Project is a DfES project. The pilot project was developed by a project steering group, led by a senior DfES official, which also comprises a senior judge, the chief executive of CAFCASS and a senior DCA official.
 
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The development of a project was approved by DfES Ministers in December 2003. A design group, whose membership comprised DfES, DCA, CAFCASS, Relate, the Parenting Forum, a district judge and the Solicitors Family Law Association, worked until September 2004 to design the pilot project, reporting to the project steering group. The project is now in operation, for one year, from September 2004, in Brighton, Sunderland and Inner London.

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