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Fire Safety (Schools)

Ms Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what precautions for fire safety are required in the design of new school buildings; what plans she has for mandatory fire sprinklers; and if she will make a statement. [218607]

Derek Twigg: Since April 2001, all new building work at schools has been subject to the Building Regulations. With regard to fire safety, the design of new school buildings must comply with Part B of the Regulations.

The Building Regulations do not require the installation of sprinkler systems in schools, but this does not prohibit local education authorities from specifying their use. Currently the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is carrying out a review of the fire safety aspects of the Building Regulations and its accompanying guidance Approved Document B. The review will include schools and it should be completed early in 2006. The decision on whether or not to install sprinklers in new schools needs to be taken locally. For example, in the Department's Managing School Facilities Guide 6,
 
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Fire Safety", we give the example of a school in an area of high arson risk as being a suitable candidate for their installation see www.teachernet.gov.uk/fire. However, we are mindful of the need to provide more detailed advice than before and have produced new draft guidance—Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools". This stresses the value of using risk assessments to determine what sort of fire detection and alarm systems should be used in a new school, and whether or not sprinklers should be installed. This advice will be subject to public consultation, which will commence shortly, and we expect to publish it in the early autumn.

GCSEs

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the quality of the GCSE exam. [220277]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The GCSE is an internationally known and respected qualification. The White Paper, 14–19 Education and Skills makes clear that we will preserve and strengthen it in the future.

Revealweb

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support the Department plans to provide for Revealweb: the National Database of Accessible Resources after March 2006. [218477]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 28 February 2005]: The Department of Culture Media and Sport, through the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, supported the establishment of Revealweb with a grant of £100,000 per year for three years (2003/04;2004/05;2005/06). It was made clear that funding was to cease after 2005/06 and that it would become the responsibility of the managers of Revealweb, to sustain the project thereafter.

The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has set up a link between the Reveal website and the DfES special educational needs (SEN) inclusion site. We have also publicised Reveal in our regular SEN update, which is available free on subscription.

The DfES is not planning to provide any financial support for Revealweb. We are already providing substantial funding—over £600 million—to schools, colleges and universities to improve access to education, including access to the curriculum.

Special Educational Needs

Mr. Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps her Department is taking to publicise the options available to parents who do not believe their child's school is compliant with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001; [217658]

(2) when the Government plans to review the implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 in schools; [217659]

(3) what steps the Government is taking to ensure that all schools become compliant with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001; [217660]
 
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(4) what measures are in place to assess whether the accessibility plans produced by schools under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 are meeting the needs of all disabled children; [217661]

(5) how many schools are complying with the duty under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 to produce accessibility plans. [217662]

Margaret Hodge: The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 amended both the Education Act 1996 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. To help schools, local education authorities and others meet their amended special educational needs (SEN) duties under the Education Act 1996 the Department published the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001). To help schools meet their duties under part 4 of the amended Disability Discrimination Act, the Disability Rights Commission produced a Code of Practice in 2002. The Code of Practice explains, and provides guidance on, the duties schools have not to discriminate, without justification, against children for a reason related to their disabilities and to make reasonable adjustments to prevent discrimination. In June 2002 the Department for Education and Skills issued separate guidance to schools on carrying out their duty to draw up and publish plans for improving access to disabled pupils.

The Department for Education and Skills has made widely available a guide for parents and carers on the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. The Disability Rights Commission provides advice to parents and schools on disability discrimination and runs a dedicated telephone help line. Parents have the right to appeal to the SEN and Disability Tribunal and admissions appeal panels if they think their children have suffered discrimination or if they disagree with the decisions of their local education authority about their child's special educational needs. The Tribunal has made available to parents publications explaining their rights of appeal, how they can make an appeal, and what this entails.

The Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED) consider how well schools are meeting the needs of children with special educational needs as part of their inspections; they consider how schools are complying with their duty to produce accessibility plans and the quality of those plans. OfSTED's recent survey reviewing the implementation of the revised inclusion framework introduced as a result of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001, Special Educational Needs and Disability—towards inclusive schools," found that schools had a growing awareness of the benefits of inclusion and that there had been some improvements in practice. It also identified the need for further progress, for example, of the schools surveyed around 50 per cent. had produced a disability access plan. OfSTED recognised that the broad and sustained programme of action under the SEN strategy Removing Barriers to Achievement" (February 2004) is designed to bring about improvements to the provision for children with learning difficulties and disabilities. The programme includes the development of practical resources for schools that should help them to comply fully with their duties under part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act.
 
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Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on delivering special needs education in North Yorkshire. [218053]

Margaret Hodge: Delivery of special needs education within North Yorkshire is a matter for determination by the local education authority (LEA) within the framework of law and guidance issued by Government. It is an essential function of every LEA to make effective arrangements for special educational needs (SEN) by ensuring that the needs of pupils are identified and assessed quickly and matched by appropriate provision. Under section 315 of the Education Act 1996, LEA arrangements for SEN must be kept under review.

Monitoring of standards in schools and LEAs including SEN provision, is the responsibility of Ofsted, who undertake regular inspections within a framework agreed between the Secretary of State and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector.

Specialist Schools

Dr. Tonge: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of the Specialist Schools grant-in-aid from her Department was spent on developing overseas networks in the last period for which figures are available. [218956]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: 1.5 per cent. of the grant-in-aid made available to the Youth Sport Trust in 2004–05 covered opportunities for designated specialist schools to engage in international professional development. None of the grant-in-aid made available to the Specialist Schools Trust is used for this purpose.

Student Loans

Mr. Challen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in how many cases the Student Loans Company has accepted mitigating circumstances when reassessing unreturned annual review forms in each of the last five years; and in how many cases appeals were rejected in each year. [219863]

Dr. Howells: The Repayment of Teachers' Loans scheme was created in 2002 on a three-year pilot basis. It is administered on my right hon. Friend's behalf by the Student Loans Company in accordance with the Education (Teacher Student Loans) (Repayments etc.) Regulations 2003.

In 2002/03, a total of 88 appeals against exclusion from the scheme were considered but rejected by the Student Loans Company. In 2003/04, 91 appeals were rejected. The company is unable to provide information on how many rejections involved cases of unreturned annual review forms.

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