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29 Nov 2005 : Column 491W—continued

Vocational Qualifications

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer of 3 November 2005, Official Report, column 1326W, on vocational qualifications, how many 15-year-olds achieved five A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent, including a full intermediate GNVQ (a) as a proportion of all 15-year-olds and (b) as a proportion of all 15-year-olds who achieved five grades A*-C at GCSE or equivalent. [27963]

Phil Hope: Provisional figures for 2005 are available in the following table:
Proportions of 15-year-old pupils1 achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent including a full intermediate GNVQ in 2005⁽⁸⁵⁾

Five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent including a full intermediate GNVQ	4,666
Total number of 15-year-old pupils	637,194
Percentage of all 15-year-olds who achieved five A*-C at GCSE and equivalent including a full intermediate GNVQ	0.7
Five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent including a full intermediate GNVQ	4,666
Five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent	23,688
Percentage of those achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent whose achievement included a full intermediate GNVQ	19.7

⁽⁸⁴⁾ Pupils aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).
⁽⁸⁵⁾ Figures for 2005 are provisional.
Note:
These figures are only based on those who achieved five A*-C GCSE and equivalent results, not five or more A*-C GCSE and equivalent results.





 
29 Nov 2005 : Column 492W
 

Young Apprenticeship Scheme

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Young Apprenticeship Scheme (a) cost in 2004–05 and (b) is expected to cost in (i) 2005–06 and (ii) 2007–08; how many people dropped out of the scheme in 2004–05; whether schools will be able to use grades from the scheme in their GCSE league tables; how scheme grades are calibrated; and how they relate to the calibration for GCSE. [31262]

Phil Hope: There are around 1,000 pupils on cohort 1 of the programme, which began in September 2004, and around 2,000 on cohort 2, which began in September 2005.

Funding for the delivery of the Young Apprenticeship (YA) Programme is routed to local partnerships via the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on an individual pupil basis. A total of up to £6,000 per pupil is available for the two years of the programme, £3,500 in the first and £2,500 in the second year.

In addition, the Department are providing funding to the Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) and sector bodies involved in the programme, to provide strategic input to policy development on behalf of their sectors and develop sector support for partnerships and teachers.

In 2004–05 the Young Apprenticeship Programme cost £3,948,855.63, of which £3,153,000 was allocated through the Learning and Skills Council to cover pupil costs and LSC support for partnerships, the remainder being allocated by the Department for central and sector specific support.

In 2005–06 the programme is expected to cost in the region of £10,700,000. Costs in 2007–08 (and in 2006–07) will depend on the number of pupils on the programme, yet to be confirmed.

Confirmed figures for the number of pupils who dropped out of the scheme in 2004–05 will not be known until the analysis of baseline data has been completed. This is currently scheduled for the end of 2005.

No new qualifications have been developed for the YA programme. Pupils are studying existing qualifications, which are approved as appropriate for use pre-16, either GCSEs in vocational subjects, NVQs or vocationally-related qualifications. SSCs and sector bodies have provided advice on which qualifications are most appropriate to accredit achievement in particular sectors and have clear progression routes post-16. Pupils on the programme are expected to achieve Level 2 outcomes (equivalent to A* to C at GCSE). The qualifications all have an established equivalence to GCSEs in the Secondary Achievement and Attainment Tables. Qualification outcomes for pupils on the programme will be included in the table for their school.

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