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Learning and Skills Council

Mr. Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 7 November 2005, Official Report, column 124W, on Learning and Skills Council, whether further savings" means savings within the projected administration budgets for 2006–07 and 2007–08; and in what circumstances these savings (i) would and (ii) would not be released to the sector. [35736]

Bill Rammell: The LSC is currently consulting on the detail of its 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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Literacy Teaching

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whom she has asked to carry out the review of the framework for teaching literacy; which experts have been invited to submit evidence to this review; how many responses she has received to the Department's consultation on the review; and whether the recommendations of the Rose review will be adopted by the framework for teaching literacy. [38606]

Jacqui Smith: The Primary National Strategy has been asked to renew and update its framework for the teaching of literacy.

A period of informal consultation is currently under way. Discussions are being held with consultancy groups drawn from national samples of head teachers, teachers, local authority representatives, subject and professional organisations and higher education institutions. A consultation forum has been set up on the DfES website. To date, well over 100 contributors have taken part in consultancy group discussions and the website consultation forum has had 14 contributions posted on it, some of which are from local authorities feeding back comments from their meetings with local teachers.

The Strategy will continue to hold discussions with experts across the English community to elicit their views on proposed content and structure of the revised framework and will post documentation on the website for wider comment. After Easter 2006, a draft revised framework will be published for more formal
 
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consultation. The Secretary of State made clear when she announced the Rose review and the renewal of the literacy framework in June 2005 that the findings of theRose review would inform the development of the revised framework.

National Employer Training Programme

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 9 November 2005, Official Report, column 601W, on the National Employer Training Programme, how many employees participated in the employer training pilots in each local learning and skills council area involved in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05. [38121]

Phil Hope: Employer Training Pilots (ETP) were introduced in September 2002 to encourage employers to invest in skills and qualifications, particularly for low skilled employees.

Pilots have been running since September 2002 in the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) areas of Birmingham and Solihull, Derbyshire, Essex, Greater Manchester, Tyne and Wear and Wiltshire and Swindon. From September 2003, six additional pilots have been running in Berkshire, East London, Kent, Leicester, Shropshire and South Yorkshire. From September 2004, additional pilots have been running in Black Country, Cambridgeshire, Devon and Cornwall, Lancashire, West Yorkshire, and Northumberland, County Durham and Tees Valley joined the Tyne and Wear pilot to create a whole region pilot.

The numbers of learners starts in each local Learning and Skills Council area involved were:
ETP learner starts by pilot area—years 1,2 and 3

	Learners 1 September 2002 to 31 August 2003	Learners 1 September 2003 to 31 August 2004	Learners 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005	Total learners 1 September 2002 to 31 August 2005
Berkshire	25	3,982	2,808	6,815
Birmingham and Solihull	1,562	4,461	6,098	12,121
Black Country	—	11	3,540	3,551
Cambridgeshire	—	—	3,616	3,616
Co. Durham(9)	—	1	2,116	2,117
Derbyshire	1,715	5,378	4,397	11,490
Devon and Cornwall	—	—	4,236	4,236
Essex	4,169	10,152	6,652	20,973
Greater Manchester	4,268	11,572	9,354	25,194
Kent and Medway	2	4,563	4,361	8,926
Lancashire	—	1	4,219	4,220
Leicestershire	—	5,120	7,732	12,852
London East	302	5,177	4,030	9,509
Northumberland(9)	—	—	1,741	1,741
Shropshire	—	5,351	4,736	10,087
South Yorkshire	57	7,786	4,418	12,261
Tees Valley(9)	—	—	2,893	2,893
Tyne and Wear(9)	2,702	6,091	9,148	17,941
West Yorkshire	—	—	5,394	5,394
Wiltshire and Swindon	2,801	5,250	3,669	11,720
Total	17,603	74,896	95,158	187,657

⁽⁹⁾North East Regional Pilot

Nurseries (Child Abuse)

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many convictions there have been for child abuse at nurseries in each of the last 10 years. [37050]

Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.

It is not possible from the court proceedings database held by the Office for Criminal Justice Reform, to identify those offenders convicted for child abuse at nurseries, as the circumstances of an offence are not centrally collected.
 
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Out-of-classroom Educational Experiences

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to increase financial support for high quality out-of-classroom educational experiences; and if she will make a statement. [39233]

Jacqui Smith: The consultation on the Education outside the Classroom Manifesto, which endorses all pupils having the opportunity for high quality out-of-classroom educational experiences, will finish at the end of January 2006. The 10 working groups will make proposals for action early next year. No decisions have yet been made on funding.

Parent Support Advisers

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the piloting of new parent support advisers referred to in paragraph 1.23 of the pre-Budget report; and what their intended role is. [38712]

Jacqui Smith: The pre-Budget report announced £20 million to support the piloting of a new school-based outreach role—parent school advisers—in over 600 primary and secondary schools in the most deprived areas. These advisers will offer early preventative support for children and families where there are signs that they could benefit from additional help. Parent school advisers will work with families to identify the most effective support for them. This might include a parenting programme, mentoring for the parent of child, or one-to-one tuition for the child.

We also want to use the pilots to consider the most effective means of enabling parent school advisers to have sufficient leverage over, and ensure delivery of, the additional services children and their families might need.

School Meals

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools had more than 20 per cent. of pupils entitled to free school meals in the last year forwhich figures are available; and what this represents as a percentage of the total number of schools in each sector. [38941]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is shown in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽¹⁰⁾: number of schools with 21 per cent. or more of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals—January 2005—England

	Maintained primary	Maintained secondary
Total number of schools	17,642	3,385
Schools with 21 per cent. or more of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals(11)
Number of schools	5,018	844
As a percentage of all schools	28	25

⁽¹⁰⁾Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽¹¹⁾Based on percentages rounded to the nearest whole number.
Source:
Annual Schools' Census




 
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