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16 Jan 2006 : Column 1014W—continued
Post-16 Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the staying on rates for 16-year-olds in England were in each year from 1996–97; and if she will make a statement. [41453]
Bill Rammell: The percentage of 16-year-olds in full-time education in England is shown in the following table.
| Percentage of 16-year-olds in full-time education in England | |
|---|---|
| 1996 | 70.6 |
| 1997 | 70.2 |
| 1998 | 70.2 |
| 1999 | 71.8 |
| 2000 | 71.0 |
| 2001 | 70.7 |
| 2002 | 71.9 |
| 2003 | 72.3 |
| 2004 (Provisional) | 74.2 |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the effect on staying-on rates of the introduction of the education maintenance allowance; and if she will make a statement. [41454]
Maria Eagle: EMA was subject to one of the most comprehensive evaluations of any educational initiative. It was piloted in 10 areas (plus five others in London/Leeds) and the evaluation followed two cohorts of 16-year-olds for four years from 1999/2000 and 2000/01. Their outcomes were compared to those of matched individuals in 11 control areas. It was rolled out to a further 41 area in 2000/01 so that it was operating in around one third of the country.
The results indicated that EMA increased participation of eligible young people in the pilot areas by 5.9 percentage points. This is equivalent to an increase in participation of all 16-year-olds across the whole country of 3.8 percentage points. There was a particularly strong impact for key target groups:
The results also showed positive impacts on retention from Y13 to Y14, and also on an individual's attachment to education, as measured by number of terms which they stay in education to age 19.
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EMA was rolled out to 16-year-olds in the remaining two thirds of the country in September 2004. There was a 1.9 percentage point increase in participation of 16-year-olds in full-time education between 2003/04 and 2004/05. This is in line with the increase in participation which was expected from the roll out of EMA and is the largest increase in participation for over 10 years. While it is not possible to say that all of the increase was due to EMA, this was one of the most important initiatives aimed at increasing participation. The Department and LSC will be doing further analyses of local participation when these become available to try to get a better estimate of the change which might be due to EMA. EMA was rolled out to 17-year-olds in September 2005 and will be fully rolled out to 18-year-olds from September 2006.
This year the LSC has adopted the strategy of measuring EMA take-up to show early impact of the scheme locally. Volumes are on target, and take-up among poorer students is higher than originally projected, which is the group upon whom EMA is likely to have the greatest beneficial effect. Take-up among 16-year-olds largely met or exceeded estimated figures in 2004/05. Where take-up is lower than anticipated, the local LSC targets additional support to raise awareness of EMA and increase the figures.
Postgraduates
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students (a) studying for and (b) who achieved postgraduate degrees were educated in state schools in each year since 1997. [24453]
Bill Rammell:
The available information on the previous school type of students is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) in 'Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK'. However, these figures cover undergraduate entrants only and corresponding information for postgraduates is not available.
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The latest available information on the school background of higher education students covers young (aged under 21) first degree entrants, and is shown in the table.
Source:
Performance Indicators in Higher Education" published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).
Qualifications (Gateshead)
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of working age people in Gateshead East and Washington West were (a) qualified to (i) post-graduate level, (ii) graduate level and (iii) A-level and (b) without qualifications in each year from 1990. [41623]
Phil Hope: The following table shows estimates of the level of highest qualification held by the working age population in the parliamentary constituency of Gateshead East and Washington West. Data come from the Local Labour Force Survey. The number of people holding qualifications at post-graduate level and who were sampled in the LLFS, were too small to yield any meaningful estimates. The figures below therefore indicate the proportion qualified to either graduate level or equivalent (level 4), or postgraduate level (level 5). Qualified to A-level is defined as level 3 in the table. Data at parliamentary constituency level are not available prior to 1999.
(34)For the purposes of target measurement people with trade apprenticeships as their highest qualification are assigned to level 3 and level2 in the ratio of 50:50.
(35)Qualifications that cannot be assigned directly to levels. For the purposes of target measurement, people with Other qualifications as their highest qualification level are assigned to level 3:level 2:below level 2 in the ratio of 10:35:55.
(36)Estimates for 1999–2000 and 2000–01 based on small sample sizes have been suppressed as they are statistically unreliable. Estimates for later years based on small sample sizes have been given, and are therefore subject to a higher degree of sampling variability. They should therefore be treated with caution and, in particular, changes from year to year should not be used in isolation from the figures for a run of years.
Notes:
1.As with all sample surveys the estimates presented in this table are subject to sampling variability.
2.Columns may not sum to 100 per cent. due to rounding.
3.Working age people are defined as males and females aged 16–64 and 16–59 respectively.
School Budgets (Shrewsbury)
Daniel Kawczynski:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what additional funding has been made available for schools in Shrewsbury which have been unable to remain within their financial budgets for 2005–06. [41160]
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Jacqui Smith: My Department has not made any additional funds available to Shropshire county council for this purpose. However, the LEA and School Budget Regulations enable local authorities to support schools in financial difficulty through sums held centrally by them, or by extending licensed deficit facilities under the conditions set out in their schemes for financing schools.
In 2005–06 Shropshire received a 7.1 per cent. increase per pupil in its Schools Formula Spending Share.
School Curriculum (International Activities)
Mrs. Dorries: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps the Government are taking to encourage schools and local education authorities to promote greater international links and opportunities with regard to curriculum-related activities; and if she will make a statement; [41155]
(2) what steps the Government are taking to encourage schools and local education authorities to promote international professional development opportunities for teachers and head teachers; and if she will make a statement; [41156]
(3) what representations she has received about encouraging schools and local education authorities to promote greater international links and opportunities; and if she will make a statement. [41157]
Bill Rammell: A key aim of 'Putting the World into World-Class Education—An international strategy for education, skills and children's services' is to equip our children, young people and adults for life in a global society and work in a global economy. In addition, our national languages strategy clearly sets out the importance of international partnerships for the enrichment of language learning and to the curriculum more generally.
Feeding into these, a tremendous amount of work is taking place to encourage schools and local authorities to promote international development opportunities for teachers and head teachers as well as greater international links and opportunities with regard to curriculum-related activities:
Under citizenship education (which is statutory in secondary schools), pupils are being taught about the world as a global community, the political economic, environmental and social implications of this, including the wider issues and challenges of global interdependence and responsibility;
The DfES has funded and worked with organisations to produce resource materials to support schools, such as the guide on 'Developing a Global Dimension' in the school curriculum';
The Global Gateway website (www.globalgateway.org) is being continuously developed as our primary resource for all aspects of internationalism in education. It is primarily a global school partner finding facility. It also contains, among other things, guidance and resources for curriculum-related activities and information on professional development opportunities for teachers;
With the British Council, we have developed a promotion pack containing relevant information and ready-made presentations for use by local authorities and other regional and local networks (e.g. the British Council Regional Professional Development network, development education centres) and, through them, to schools;
We are working to further increase the impact of the DfES Teachers' International Professional Development (TIPD) programme, including greater synergy with the NCSL International Programme for Head teachers so that they can both potentially impact more on whole system change and policy development;
The Comenius EU Programme provides opportunities for schools to work in multinational partnerships in projects to support and develop all areas of the curriculum, as well as opportunities for teachers to undertake training periods within one of the participating countries. Since 2004/05 the British Council has undertaken a focused promotion of the opportunities to schools and local authorities, and in 2005 there was a record number of 1,044 UK schools taking part in school projects. 605 teachers also took training courses in the programme, the majority being intensive courses for language teachers.
We have had a very enthusiastic and positive response to the international strategy and have been working across a wide range of partners on raising the profile of the global dimension. Partners include: DFID and other Government Departments; British Council; Association of Colleges; Development Education Association; Institute of Education, University of London; Learning and Skills Council; QCA; NCSL; Universities UK; and UK Forum for International Education and Training.
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