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2 Nov 2005 : Column 1191W—continued

School Discipline

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many serious incidents of violence against teachers have been recorded in (a) faith schools and (b) non-faith schools in each year since 1997. [22372]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not held centrally.

School Meals

Mr. Binley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether her Department's recent announcement concerning kitchens in new schools will apply to those schools approved for construction, but not yet constructed, before the announcement was made. [20532]

Jacqui Smith: The School Meals Review Panel, in its report Turning the Tables: Transforming School Food" published on 3 October 2005, recommended that schools should aspire to achieve the highest quality of provision, which it defined as a hot meal, cooked on-site
 
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1192W
 
from fresh and seasonal ingredients. It is preferable if the kitchens are on the school premises, but this may not be sensible in all circumstances. These decisions are, rightly, made locally, and my Department does not generally approve school designs individually, which are procured by local authorities or schools. We expect all schools and authorities to consider carefully and seriously our ambitions when building or refurbishing schools, whether they were started before or after our announcements on raising the standards of school food.

School Expulsions

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils left school due to expulsion in (a) the Tees Valley and (b) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in each year since 1997. [22321]

Jacqui Smith: Requested information relating to the number of pupils who have been permanently excluded from school is given in the tables.

Figures for the number of permanent exclusions during 2004/05 academic year should be available in June 2006.
Maintained primary, secondary and all special schools^{(67)(5508280068)}: number and percentage of permanently excluded pupils—1997/98 to 2003/04

	1997/98		1998/99		1999/2000
	Number	Percentage(70)	Number	Percentage(70)	Number	Percentage(70)
Tees Valley	164	0.14	111	0.09	109	0.09
841 Darlington	29	0.19	26	0.17	27	0.17
805 Hartlepool	34	0.20	17	0.10	15	0.09
806 Middlesbrough	23	0.09	17	0.07	3	0.01
807 Redcar and Cleveland	35	0.13	26	0.10	37	0.14
808 Stockton-on-Tees	43	0.13	25	0.07	27	0.08

	2000/01(69)		2001/02(69)		2002/03(69)		2003/04(69)
	Number	Percentage(70)	Number	Percentage(70)	Number	Percentage(70)	Number	Percentage(70)
Tees Valley	96	0.08	108	0.09	113	0.10	135	0.12
841 Darlington	23	0.15	7	0.04	9	0.06	22	0.14
805 Hartlepool	22	0.13	32	0.19	40	0.24	44	0.27
806 Middlesbrough	7	0.03	13	0.05	9	0.04	18	0.09
807 Redcar and Cleveland	29	0.11	33	0.13	32	0.13	33	0.13
808 Stockton-on-Tees	15	0.05	23	0.07	23	0.07	18	0.06

⁽⁶⁷⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁶⁸⁾ Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools.
⁽⁶⁹⁾ Figures are as confirmed by local authorities via the data checking exercise.
⁽⁷⁰⁾ The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils, excluding dually registered pupils.
Source:
Annual Schools Census





 
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Maintained primary, secondary and all special schools^{(71)(5508280072)}: number and percentage of permanently excludedpupils—1997/98 to 2003/04

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland	Number	Percentage(74)
1997/98	22	0.14
1998/99	10	0.06
1999/2000	13	0.08
2000/01(73)	6	0.04
2001/02(73)	10	0.07
2002/03(73)	6	0.04
2003/04(73)	8	0.06

⁽⁷¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁷²⁾ Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools.
⁽⁷³⁾ Figures are as confirmed by local authorities via the data checking exercise.
⁽⁷⁴⁾ The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils, excluding dually registered pupils.
Source:
Annual Schools Census





 
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1194W
 

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many youths who have been expelled from school are without a school place in (a) the Tees Valley and (b) Middlesbrough, South and East Cleveland constituency. [22322]

Jacqui Smith: We do not hold information centrally on the numbers of excluded pupils who are without a place in school. However, from September 2002 all local authorities (LAs) have been committed to providing suitable full-time education for permanently excluded pupils from the sixteenth school day of their exclusion. Since then all but a handful of LAs have met this commitment and the Department works with any that are not meeting it to help them achieve it.

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children have been expelled from (a) faith schools and (b) non-faith schools in each year since 1997. [22371]

Jacqui Smith: The requested information is given in the table.

Figures for the number of permanent exclusions during 2004/05 academic year should be available in June 2006.
Maintained primary and secondary schools ⁽⁷⁵⁾ number of permanently excluded pupils by denomination of schools—1997/98 to 2003/04

England
	Primary
	Non-denominational(76)		Faith schools(76)		All schools
	Number	Percentage (77)	Number	Percentage (77)	Number	Percentage(77)
1997/98	1,210	0.04	330	0.03	1,540	0.03
1998/99	1,100	0.03	270	0.02	1,370	0.03
1999/2000	980	0.03	250	0.02	1,230	0.03
2000/01 (78)	1,150	0.04	290	0.02	1,440	0.03
2001/02 (78)	1,190	0.04	270	0.02	1,450	0.03
2002/03 (78)	1,070	0.03	230	0.02	1,300	0.03
2003/04 (78)	1,030	0,03	230	0.02	1,270	0.03

	Secondary
	Non-denominational2		Faith schools2		All schools
	Number	Percentage3	Number	Percentage3	Number	Percentage 3
1997/98	8,710	0.35	1,480	0.24	10,190	0.33
1998/99	7,680	0.31	950	0.15	8,640	0.28
1999/2000	6,030	0.22	690	0.14	6,710	0.21
2000/01 (78)	6,500	0.24	810	0.16	7,310	0.23
2001/02 (78)	6,920	0.25	830	0.16	7,740	0.24
2002/03 (78)	6,810	0.24	870	0.17	7,690	0.23
2003/04 (78)	7,340	0.26	980	0.19	8,320	0.25

⁽⁷⁵⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽⁷⁶⁾ Religious character of schools has been sourced from Edubase—the Department's database of educational establishments.
⁽⁷⁷⁾ The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of pupils in schools of same denomination.
⁽⁷⁸⁾ Estimates based on incomplete pupil level data.
Note:
Totals may not appear to equal the sum of component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
Annual Schools Census





 
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School Playing Fields

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many school playing fields have been sold off since 1997 in Gravesham. [19816]

Jacqui Smith: Until October 1998, only grant-maintained schools needed to obtain the Secretary of State's consent before disposing of any land, including playing fields. Prior to October 1998, there was no regulation of the sale of school playing fields at local authority controlled schools. If a local authority wanted to sell a school playing field there was nothing to stop it and it could spend the sale proceeds as it wished.

Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was introduced in October 1998 to stop the indiscriminate sale of school playing fields. Since October 1998 we have ensured that only sports pitches that are surplus to the needs of local schools and their communities are sold and all the money is ploughed back into improving sports or educational facilities.

Since 1997, two applications involving the loss of an area of school playing field capable of forming at least a small sports pitch have been approved in Gravesham. An application to sell an off-site playing field at Chantry Primary School in Gravesend was approved in November 2000. The money raised from the sale has been used to improve the school's on-site sports provision. More recently, in October 2005, we approved an application to dispose of the site, including the playing fields, of the former Southfields School in Gravesend. As part of the proposed development of this site, the purchaser has agreed that the playing fields will be retained, and improved, for use by local schools and the community.

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