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Schools White Paper

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what duties (a) community schools, (b) trust schools, (c) special schools, (d) city academies, (e) pupil referral units, (f) federated schools and (g) foundation schools will have to admit (i) pupils with special needs with statements, (ii) pupils with special needs without statements and (iii) looked-after children under the proposals in the School White Paper. [37664]

Jacqui Smith: We have no plans in the White Paper to change schools' statutory duties in respect of the admission of mainstream or statemented pupils.

For mainstream admissions, all maintained schools (including federated and trust schools) are required to comply with existing admissions legislation and have regard to the School Admissions Code of Practice.
 
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For statemented pupils, admission to maintained schools is through the school being 'named' on the child's statement. Schools will remain under a statutory duty to admit children with statements which name their school. Local authorities can also arrange admission to pupil referral units and non-maintained special and independent schools through the statement.

Academies are required by their funding agreements to consent to being named in a child's statement. They are also required to comply with mainstream admissions law and to have regard to the School Admissions Code of Practice.

We have also recently amended legislation to ensure that priority is given to the admission of looked after children to all maintained schools as one of the most vulnerable groups in the community. Regulations will come into force in the new year.

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether (a) pupil referral units and (b) special schools will be able to apply for truststatus under the proposals in the Schools White Paper. [37665]

Jacqui Smith: The White Paper does not propose arrangements to allow pupil referral units to become eligible to apply for trust status.

For special schools, the White Paper acknowledges that trust status for special schools raises a number of complex issues. We will continue to work with schools and other partners to decide the best way forward.

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether (a) trust schools that were previously independent and (b) other trust schools will be permitted to become independent under the arrangements proposed in the Schools White Paper. [37669]

Jacqui Smith: The White Paper proposes no arrangements that will enable maintained schools to move from the maintained sector to the independent sector. Trust schools will be maintained schools, and as such will be subject to the same rules as other maintained schools. The 'independence' the White Paper proposals envisage relates to greater freedom of operation within the maintained sector.

Science Teaching

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers have attended (a) the regional science learning centres and (b) the National Science Learning Centre since they opened. [37999]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not collected by DfES. One of our key performance indicators is the number of teacher training days delivered by the centres. Figures for 2005 will be available in January 2006.

Secondary School Places

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of demand for secondary school places in the next 10 years. [37663]

 
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Jacqui Smith: The number of 11 to 15-year-olds in all schools in England is projected to fall from 3,255,000 in 2005 to 2,908,000 in 2015. Excluding independent schools and non-maintained special schools, the number of pupils aged 11 to 15 is projected to fall from 3,020,000 in 2005 to 2,702,000 in 2015.

The Learning and Skills Council will fund an additional 50,000 school, college and work based learning places for 16 to 19-year-olds by 2008. Beyond 2008 numbers are expected to remain broadly constant as participation increases towards our aim of 90 per cent. of 17-year-olds by 2015 but the overall 16 to 19-year-old population falls. The exact number of places in secondary schools will depend on the choice of institution made by young people.

Secondments

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many seconded staff were transferred into her Department in each of the last three financial years; in which part of the Department they were employed; on which projects they worked; what the cost to the Department was of employing them; and from which budget the funding came. [37368]

Maria Eagle: Statistics for seconded staff in each of the last three financial years are detailed in the following table:

Financial year	Number of inward secondees
2002/03	73
2003/04	85
2004/05	94

Seconded staff are deployed across all directorates within the Department to meet business needs.

Information on the projects that seconded staff have worked are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Costs are borne from both running and programme budgets.

Sector Skills Bodies

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 8 November 2005, Official Report, column 452W, on the Learning and Skills Council, what proportion of the £40 million savings announced in the Learning and Skills Council press release of 16 September will be redirected to learners in (a) 2005–06, (b) 2006–07 and (c) 2007–08. [36394]

Bill Rammell: The LSC is currently consulting on the detail of it's restructuring exercise which will result in savings in administration costs. I expect that these savings will start to become available from 2007–08. Once the consultation is completed my Department and the LSC will agree where these savings should be directed to meet our priorities and a full profile for the release of savings.
 
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Sixth Forms

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children under 16 years of age entered sixth form in the last year for which figures are available. [35598]

Jacqui Smith: In January 2005 there were approximately 780 pupils aged under 16 in school sixth forms ¹ , that is in National Curriculum Year Group 12,13 or 14; the corresponding figure for January 2004 was 830.

Young people under 16 years of age might also be enrolled elsewhere in the Further Education (FE) sector. It is not possible to state which are enrolled in school sixth forms, recorded on the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC), and which are also enrolled in other FE recorded separately on the Individual Learner Record (ILR). It is likely that the vast majority of learners aged under 16 recorded on the ILR attend colleges in addition to school rather than instead of school.

The ILR for 2003/04 shows 76,200 academic age 14 or 15-year-olds in FE, of which 60,200 enrolled with General Colleges of Further Education (GFEC); 3,000 in Special Colleges for Agriculture and Horticulture; and 1,500 in Sixth Form Colleges (SFC).

¹ Schools are defined as having a sixth form if there is one or more pupils in National Curriculum Year Groups 12, 13 or 14

Surplus School Places

Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether her Department has plans to fund surplus school places under the proposals in the Schools White Paper. [38244]

Jacqui Smith: Local authorities are responsible for planning school places in their area. They have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient places to meet the needs of the local community and must also ensure that high quality education is provided in a cost-effective way.

Where schools expand or new schools are created to meet parental demand we expect local authorities to act decisively to remove surplus places in schools which are not popular with parents and to ensure educational resources are used in the most efficient way possible. This year, we are allocating over £5.5 billion of capital funding to schools and authorities. This funding can support local school reorganisation, including those directed to the removal of surplus places.

Building Schools for the Future aims to renew all secondary schools over 15 waves of investment starting from this year. When authorities are prioritised in this programme, they must develop a strong strategic vision for the delivery of secondary education in their area. Additional funding for primary schools has been announced from 2008–09. Further details of this programme will be announced next year.

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