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10 Nov 2005 : Column 729W—continued
Gershon Review
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what she has assessed as being the 10 most successful ways in which individual schools are making efficiency savings as part of the Gershon review; and how much each measure is expected to save. [25528]
Bill Rammell: We expect schools will make efficiency gains in a number of ways. Those will depend on decisions made at school level, but are likely to include improved procurement, more effective use of staff, improved financial management, improved use of ICT, reduced bureaucracy through the New Relationship with Schools and more efficient exams procedures. The amounts realised in each way will depend on schools' own decisions.
The Department is currently considering the best way of disseminating best practice in schools to the wider schools sector.
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Holland Park Secondary School
Derek Wyatt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans there are to support Holland Park Secondary School through the Building Schools for the Future initiative. [27249]
Jacqui Smith: Building Schools for the Future is our long-term programme to provide 21st-century facilities for all secondary pupils. We aim to do this in 15 waves of investment from 2005–06, subject to future public spending decisions. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea has submitted an expression of interest for its schools, including Holland Park School. We have indicated to the authority that it may join the programme in waves 4 to 6, which we hope to announce in 2007 after the next spending review.
Home-educated Children
Annette Brooke:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of
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2 November 2005, Official Report, column 1179W, what notification arrangements are in place between local authorities when the parents of a home-educated child move from a local education authority which is aware that a child is being home-educated. [26391]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 November 2005]: We expect local authorities to have protocols for transferring information about home educated children who move to another authority, where the local authority is aware that home education is taking place. These protocols should be similar to those covering the transfer of information about children who are on the roll of a maintained school.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the Answer of 2 November to Question 23237, what consideration she has given to the introduction of a legal requirement for parents or carers to notify their local authority of a decision to home educate. [26392]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 8 November 2005]: We have no plans to introduce a legal requirement for parents or carers to notify their local authority of a decision to home educate. However, we recommend that parents home educating their children inform their local authority. This will assist local authorities in targeting their resources as efficiently as possible in identifying children missing education.
Juvenile Learning and Skills
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on roll out of the pilot of the new means of service delivery for juvenile learning and skills. [26675]
Phil Hope: New arrangements for delivering learning and skills to offenders were introduced in three development regions, the South West, North West and North East, from 1 August 2005. The new offenders' learning and skills service covers juvenile offenders held in Young Offender Institutions. Action research is being carried out on the new service in order to inform the planned roll-out of the new service across the rest of England from August 2006.
The new arrangements emphasise early, intense focus on assessing the offender learner's needs, formulating them into an individual learning plan and addressing those needs in a joined-up way as the offender moves through the criminal justice system and into mainstream learning and skills. A new curriculum for offender learners is described in the Offender's Learning Journey", of which there are separate adult and juvenile versions. (See http://www.dfes.gov.uk/offenderlearning/uploads/docs/05%200111% 20Juvenile%20OLJ%20v0.4.doc) This more integrated service is particularly important for juvenile offenders, many of whom will continue their education on release.
The new service is planned and funded by the Learning and Skills Council, working in close collaboration with the National Offender Management Service and, in the case of juvenile offenders, with the Youth Justice Board. These close working arrangements will ensure the learning and skills service commissioned meets the needs of the learners and, for those of working age, the needs of employers in the areas within which they will be resettled.
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Learning and Skills Council
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the restructuring of the Learning and Skills Council. [24376]
Bill Rammell: This week the LSC announced more details of its restructuring exercise which will make it a smaller, more dynamic and more customer-focused organisation. This will build upon its existing strengths; further develop its relationships with providers and with its partners, and help push the highest proportion of its funding out through colleges and providers into front line delivery. At local level, the LSC will develop small teams of professional staff who will support the delivery of its priority objectives through strategic relationships with colleges, providers and other key stakeholders and so ensure that the needs of local employers and learners are met.
The LSC are consulting fully with staff and Trades Unions, in line with best industrial relations practice. Redundancy will be offered on a voluntary basis where possible. Where this is not possible, redeployment opportunities should be investigated fully, consistent with Cabinet Office guidelines.
The effects on organisation and staffing are matters for the LSC. I have therefore asked Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive, to write to the hon. Lady with further information. A copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.
Modern Apprenticeships
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of young people started a modern apprenticeship by the age of 22 years in 2004/05; and if she will make a statement. [26797]
Phil Hope: Learning providers have until the end of November 2005 to register new apprenticeship starts for the 2004/05 academic year with the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). As in previous years this is to take account of delays in reporting starts to the council. We will then make an assessment of the percentage of young people entering an apprenticeship by age 22, and make a statement.
Nursery Places
Shona McIsaac: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Cleethorpes constituency attended nursery in each of the past 10 years; and how many have taken up free nursery places since the policy was introduced. [26505]
Beverley Hughes: All four-year-olds have been entitled to a free early education place since 1998 and from April 2004 this entitlement was extended to all three-year-olds. The free entitlement consists of a minimum of five two and a half hour sessions per week for 33 weeks of the year for six terms before statutory school age, which is the term following their fifth birthday.
Some local authorities may additionally offer subsidised child care places but this information is not collected centrally.
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Figures for January 2005 show that all four-year-old children receive some form of free entitlement. The figure for three-years-olds is 96 per cent. This covers all maintained, private, voluntary and independent providers and represents 535,100 three-year-olds and 568,300 four-year-olds.
The available information on the number of free nursery education places taken up by three and four-year-olds in Cleethorpes parliamentary constituency area and North East Lincolnshire local authority is shown in the tables.
For 2005, information for private and voluntary providers is available for North East Lincolnshire but not currently available for Cleethorpes constituency.
The latest figures on early education places for three and four-year-olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 43/2005 Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2005 (final)" in September, which is available on my Department's website www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/
n/a=Not available.
(48)Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.
(49)Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
(50)Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
(51)Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.
(52)Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise.
(53)Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools' Census.
(54)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.
(55)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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n/a=Not available.
(56)Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate.
(57)Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census.
(58)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.
Changes in pupil figures may arise from changes to the underlying population in the local authority area and other factors. However, my Department does not publish population figures for individual age cohorts at sub-national level because of the unreliability of the underlying population estimates. The Office for National Statistics publish sub-national population estimates in five-year age bands.
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