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24 Jan 2005 : Column 80W—continued
Homelessness
Ms Oona King: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will permit homeless children in temporary accommodation to be included in groups of socially excluded children targeted by the Vulnerable Children Grant. [209649]
Margaret Hodge: The Government's aim is that all vulnerable children should be able to access good quality education. The Standards Fund Vulnerable Children Grant was introduced in the 2003–04 financial year to help local education authorities (LEAs) to achieve this aim.
The key groups whose needs the Vulnerable Children Grant is designed to address are: looked after children; children who are unable to attend school because of medical needs; gypsy/traveller children; asylum seekers, young carers, school refusers, teenage parents and
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young offenders. This list is not prescriptive or exclusive. Many of these children will face multiple challenges, sometimes including homelessness. The grant may be used by LEAs to meet the needs of any vulnerable children identified by them as needing support, including those who are homeless. This discretionary approach allows local needs to be addressed more flexibly and responsively than would be possible using central direction.
In November last year the Department published an evaluation of the Vulnerable Children Grant undertaken by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). One of the key findings of the report was that the grant had enabled LEAs to provide support for a variety of vulnerable groups. The NFER reported that in some LEAs surveyed the grant had been used to support children who are socially vulnerable, for example children living in vulnerable accommodation such as women's refuges, or children who were the subject of family breakdown or changes in home circumstances.
ICT
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of how much time will be required of teachers to fill in the route map for information and communication technology use. [210180]
Derek Twigg: We have recently asked the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency to develop a route-map for schools which will help each school to identify how they can move forward in embedding information and communication technology to support teaching and learning.
The route map will not involve any requirement on teachers to fill in anything.
Key Stage 4
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average value added scores at Key Stage 4 are for (a) maintained school sixth forms, (b) sixth form colleges, (c) further education colleges and (d) special schools. [210186]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: Figures 1 2 are unavailable for Parts (a) , (b) and (c) of the question as the GCSE and Equivalents 2 value added measures are based on pupils aged 151 at the start of the academic year. Maintained school sixth forms, sixth form colleges and further education colleges do not have 15-year-old pupils on roll, except in rare individual cases. Figures are provided for special schools 3 (d) as follows:
1 As standard the results reported relate to pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year i.e. 31 August and therefore reaching the end of compulsory education at the end of the school year.
2 2004 results incorporate GCSEs, GNVQs and a wide range of other qualifications approved pre-16.
3 'Special schools' include Community special schools, Foundation special schools, Special schools not maintained by LEA and Independent schools approved to take pupils with Special Education Needs.
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New Deal for Schools
Mr. Fisher: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding each school in Stoke-on-Trent has received from the new deal for schools. [209910]
Mr. Stephen Twigg: The funding for new deal for schools allocated to Stoke-on-Trent from 1997–98 to 2000–01 is set out in the following table:
| Stoke-on-Trent LEA | £000 |
|---|---|
| 1997–98 | 650 |
| 1998–99 | 2,799 |
| 1999–2000 | 1,753 |
| 2000–01 | 3,123 |
Decisions on detailed allocations to individual schools were made locally by the LEA. The breakdown of funds allocated to schools by constituency is not held centrally.
Newborn Hearing Screening
Mr. Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what monitoring he conducts of local authority provision of support for families of deaf children identified through newborn hearing screening; [201674]
(2) what entitlement deaf children identified through newborn hearing screening and under the age of two years have to support from qualified teachers of the deaf. [201675]
Margaret Hodge: The Children Act 2004 introduces new requirements for integrated inspections of children's services. Proposals will be published soon for public consultation. Joint Area Reviews will make judgments about how services collectively improve the well-being of all children, including disabled children. Ofsted will work closely with the Healthcare Commission, the Commission for Social Care Inspection and other inspectorates to carry out integrated inspections.
In May 2003, we published guidance for local education authorities in relation to early support for deaf children and their families. This guidance covered the aims of education service provision and the contribution which qualified teachers of the deaf could make, working alongside health and other professionals.
Since then, additional material has been made available through our Early Support Programme. This includes a monitoring protocol to check the progress which deaf children make in the first three years or so after deafness has been identified, an information booklet on deafness for parents and a service audit tool for supporting the development and improvement of services for disabled children under three and their families.
Nursery Places
Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many three and four- year-olds in Leyton and Wanstead have benefited from the scheme guaranteeing a free part-time nursery place. [208771]
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Margaret Hodge: 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 available information on the numbers of free part-time early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in Leyton and Wanstead parliamentary constituency and Redbridge local education authority area is shown in the tables. Information for private and voluntary providers is available for Redbridge but not for Leyton and Wanstead.
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/.
n/a = Not available.
(29) Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
(30) Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.
n/a = Not available
(31) Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
(32) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census.
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(33) Headcount of children aged three and four at 31 December in the previous calendar year.
(34) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.
(35) Includes reception classes and classes not designated as nursery classes.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census
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