Previous Section Index Home Page

19 Jul 2005 : Column 1582W—continued

Child Poverty

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of the impact of growing up in poverty on a child's (a) social, (b) educational and (c) personal development; and if she will make a statement. [12043]

Beverley Hughes: The Government assessment of the impact of child poverty is set out in the Child Poverty Review which was published alongside the 2004
 
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1583W
 
Spending Review. The Child Poverty Review shows that poverty can affect children's lives through the effects of living in poor housing and eating less nutritious food, and the higher risks of accidents, ill health and problems with school work. Poverty can exclude children from the everyday activities of their peers and limit their opportunities to play safely. Poverty in childhood can prevent children from fulfilling their potential by leading to poorer educational attainment and higher chances of poverty and social exclusion in adult life.

Child poverty more than doubled between the mid 1970s and the mid 1990s in the UK and we had the highest rate in Europe. The Government are committed to halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020. We have already seen some success. By 2003–04 there were over half a million fewer children in relative low income households compared to 1998–99. The Department is working with partners within and beyond Government to meet the Government's target of eradicating child poverty.

Dance and Drama

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget for the Dance and Drama Awards scholarships funded by the Learning and Skills Council is in 2005–06. [10094]

Bill Rammell: The Dance and Drama Awards scholarship budget for 2005–06 is £10,330,000. The Dance and Drama Award provides a non-means tested contribution towards fees which is paid directly to the school by the Learning Skills Council (LSC).

Students in receipt of a Dance and Drama award can also apply for means tested 'fees and maintenance' support, where the amount of support that a student receives is dependent on their household income. Students from England, Scotland and Wales apply to Manchester LEA (who operate the means tested element of the programme on behalf of the LSC, the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales).

In April 2005, responsibility for the management of the Dance and Drama Award programme passed from the DfES to the LSC.

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is in 2005–06 for the Dance and Drama Fees and Maintenance Fund. [10720]

Bill Rammell: The budget for the Dance and Drama Fees and Maintenance Fund for students from England in 2005–06 is £3,070,000. The National Assembly for Wales holds the budget and is responsible for the student support costs for Welsh students and the Scottish Executive holds the budget and is responsible for the student support costs of Scottish students. Students from England, Scotland and Wales apply to Manchester LEA (who operate the means tested element of the programme on behalf of the Learning Skills Council (LSC), the Scottish Executive and the National Assembly for Wales).

In April 2005, responsibility for the management of the Dance and Drama Award programme passed from the DfES to the LSC.
 
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1584W
 

Dyslexic Students

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions she has had with examination boards about the criteria used to decide whether dyslexic students are allowed extra time during examinations. [13358]

Maria Eagle: The Secretary of State has had no recent discussions with awarding bodies about access arrangements or adjustments in examinations.

Any decision on the criteria to be used in determining extra time for examinations is a matter for the awarding bodies.

The Regulators (QCA, ACCAC and CEA) produce a code of practice requiring awarding bodies to ensure that there are no unnecessary barriers to assessment which prevent candidates from effectively demonstrating their attainment. The code specifies that access arrangements must include additional time except in those instances where performing a task in limited time is an assessment objective.

The code also requires the awarding bodies to publish details of special arrangements. The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), on behalf of the awarding bodies, publishes these details every year. Their current guidance (1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005) is published in the document 'Regulations and Guidance Relating to Candidates who are eligible for Adjustments in Examinations'. That guidance states that centres can allow up to a maximum of 25 per cent. extra time for candidates with a Statement of Special Educational Need, or a psychological assessment carried out by a qualified psychologist, or specialist assessment carried out by a specialist teacher.

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she has had with organisations dealing with dyslexia on the needs of students taking examinations. [13360]

Maria Eagle: The Secretary of State has held no discussions with organisations dealing with dyslexia on the needs of students taking examinations. Arrangements for candidates with particular assessment requirements are a matter for the Regulators and the awarding bodies.

Officials within the Department are currently consulting with stakeholders, including a range of disability organisations, about the extension of the Disability Discrimination Act to general qualifications bodies.

Education Funding

Mr. Michael Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 11 July 2005, Official Report, columns 836–39W, on education, (1) what methodology was used to calculate the area cost uplift for each area; [12699]

(2) on what basis the zero area cost uplift for the West Midland conurbation, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire was calculated. [12832]

Bill Rammell [holding answer 18 July 2004]: The Learning and Skills Council's (LSC) National Rates Advisory Group (NRAG), which advises the LSC on
 
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1585W
 
post-16 funding rates and related issues, commissioned the research which helped inform the LSC's area costs uplift. The research was carried out by independent consultants contracted by the LSC and was based on an analysis of differential salary data from the Labour Force Survey and the New Earnings Survey across England. The results were adjusted for affordability and generated the published area costs funding uplifts provided in my Answer of 11 July to Question reference 11107. The work generated a zero per cent area costs rate for the West Midlands Region, including Warwickshire, and for Gloucestershire. A summary of the NRAG recommendations is available on the LSC's website at http://www.lsc.gov.uk/National/Documents/SubjectListing/FundingLearning/FurtherEducation/default.htm, entitled Funding: Indicative Rates for Further Education, Work-Based Learning and School Sixth Forms in 2003–04.

Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much funding has beenallocated to Kent county council for the financial years (a) 2005–06 and (b) 2006–07 for Sure Start schemes; [13102]
 
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1586W
 

(2) what the total budget allocated by Kent county council is to Sure Start schemes in Kent in (a) 2005–06 and (b) 2006–07. [13103]

Beverley Hughes [holding answer 18 July 2005]: Kent county council has been allocated revenue funding of £6,777,085 in 2005–06 and £6,609,809 in 2006–07 for the Sure Start local programmes element of the council's children and families funding block of the local area agreement pilot of which the council is participating. The county council has also been allocated a total of £23,336,774 in the 2005–06 General Sure Start Grant (GSSG). This is made up of £5,415,544 capital and £17,921,230 revenue. The GSSG for 2006–07 will be communicated to local authorities around November 2005.

Educational Psychologists

Mr. Lidington: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many established full-time equivalent posts for educational psychologists there are in (a) each local education authority and (b) England; how many such posts are vacant; and if she will make a statement. [12385]

Maria Eagle: The following table provides the information requested for January of 2004, the latest information available at LEA level.
Full-time equivalent educational psychologists(6)Vacant full-time permanent posts
Darlington3.81
Hartlepool3.11
Middlesbrough6.30
Redcar and Cleveland5.01
Stockton on Tees8.31
Durham29.00
Northumberland14.40
Gates head13.00
Newcastle upon Tyne13.50
North Tyneside10.00
South Tyneside6.40
Sunderland10.23
Blackburn with Darwen7.51
Blackpool8.30
Halton3.52
Warrington7.40
Cheshire24.20
Cumbria19.00
Bolton10.20
Bury8.62
Manchester18.60
Oldham9.40
Rochdale5.92
Salford10.20
Stockport12.11
Tameside11.50
Trafford6.10
Wigan12.03
Lancashire43.20
Knowsley7.02
Liverpool18.40
St. Helens8.90
Sefton13.10
Wirral11.01
East Riding of Yorkshire7.71
City of Kingston upon Hull12.00
North East Lincolnshire7.40
North Lincolnshire5.00
York8.10
North Yorkshire16.50
Barnsley4.00
Doncaster12.00
Rotherham9.80
Sheffield20.82
Bradford11.20
Calderdale7.80
Kirklees26.40
Leeds39.90
Wakefield9.50
Derby11.20
Leicester22.30
Nottingham13.02
Rutland0.00
Derbyshire27.51
Leicestershire19.88
Lincolnshire19.92
Northamptonshire27.93
Nottinghamshire25.90
Herefordshire6.10
Stoke on Trent9.30
Telford and Wrekin15.30
Shropshire0.00
Staffordshire25.40
Warwickshire17.10
Birmingham49.83
Coventry14.10
Dudley5.74
Sandwell16.20
Solihull11.60
Walsall14.00
Wolverhampton16.03
Worcestershire24.30
Luton6.01
Peterborough6.01
Southend-on-Sea6.61
Thurrock6.61
Bedfordshire14.30
Cambridgeshire17.70
Essex50.54
Hertfordshire29.63
Norfolk18.56
Suffolk17.82
Camden16.01
City of London0.30
Hackney12.00
Hammersmith and Fulham10.80
Haringey11.51
Islington14.81
Kensington and Chelsea7.00
Lambeth20.94
Lewisham9.04
Newham11.43
Southwark15.00
Tower Hamlets14.40
Wandsworth13.20
City of Westminster7.81
Barking and Dagenham15.50
Barnet11.43
Bexley8.60
Brent12.60
Bromley9.50
Croydon14.40
Ealing13.40
Enfield22.50
Greenwich12.30
Harrow11.70
Havering9.71
Hillingdon12.71
Hounslow8.92
Kingston upon Thames8.40
Merton8.01
Redbridge10.40
Richmond upon Thames6.81
Sutton7.01
Waltham Forest19.42
Bracknell Forest4.20
Brighton and Hove11.70
Isle of Wight7.00
Medway12.80
Milton Keynes11.00
Portsmouth8.51
Reading4.70
Slough17.00
Southampton12.60
West Berkshire8.00
Windsor and Maidenhead9.00
Wokingham7.60
Buckinghamshire22.01
East Sussex19.11
Hampshire51.92
Kent42.43
Oxfordshire25.80
Surrey39.13
West Sussex32.32
Bath and North East Somerset8.70
Bournemouth7.80
City of Bristol14.10
North Somerset10.11
Plymouth13.90
Poole5.50
South Gloucestershire8.01
Swindon7.00
Torbay4.51
Cornwall17.70
Isles of Scilly0.00
Devon27.00
Dorset16.21
Gloucestershire21.90
Somerset25.20
Wiltshire20.00
England2,104.8113


(6) FTE educational psychologists includes those in post, on secondment for in-service training and on secondment for initial training as educational psychologists.
Source:
Annual Survey of Teachers in Service and Teacher Vacancies





 
19 Jul 2005 : Column 1589W
 

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when her Department (a) planned to let and (b) let the contract for the review of the functions and contribution of educational psychologists. [13531]

Maria Eagle: The written ministerial statement, issued on 1 February 2005, Official Report, column 52WS, announcing the proposed review indicated that its precise terms of reference would be agreed with the local authority employers' side, and that we expected the bulk of the work to be completed in 2005. We have had comments from representatives of the Local Government Association and the Employers' Organisation and would expect to issue invitations to tender for the work shortly. A contract with the successful applicant will be agreed as soon as is practicable thereafter.


Next Section Index Home Page