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31 Jan 2006 : Column 346W—continued
Safeguarding Children
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her oral statement of 19 January 2006, Official Report, columns 966–70, on safeguarding children, whether all (a) health professionals, (b) social workers and (c) peripatetic teaching staff who work with children in schools will be subject to Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks; and what level of CRB checks will be made on those workers for whom checks will be required. [45377]
Ruth Kelly
[holding answer 24 January 2006]: Child care organisations proposing to offer employment in a child care position are, subject to limited exceptions, required to check whether a person is on the Protection of Children Act List of people who are unsuitable to work with children. If a person is on that list, the organisation must not offer the position. In practice, a check against the Protection of Children Act List can
31 Jan 2006 : Column 347W
only be made by carrying out a CRB check. Child care organisations include organisations concerned with the provision of social services or health care services to child.
Current guidance advises that a Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure at enhanced level is applicable for a position whose normal duties include caring for, training, supervising or being in sole charge of children and for all other individuals whose normal duties include working in a school or an educational establishment a standard level Disclosure is applicable.
In addition, I said in my statement of 19 January that I will require mandatory Criminal Records Bureau checks for all newly appointed school employees and that my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary would be restating how the current system operates, what will change and the priority that is attached to this area.
School Performance Data
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what the cost was to her Department of producing the performance and assessment data for schools issued in December 2005; [46392]
(2) what estimate she has made of the cost of correcting and re-issuing the performance and assessment data for schools first published in December 2005; [46645]
(3) when schools will receive corrected performance and assessment data. [46644]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 30 January 2006]: The performance and assessment reports are produced by Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Maurice Smith, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Maurice Smith, dated 30 January 2006:
Your recent parliamentary questions have been referred to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of schools, for reply.
the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost was to her Department of producing performance and assessment data for schools issued in December 2005. (PQ 46392)
the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the cost of correcting and re-issuing the performance and assessment data for schools first published in December 2005. (PQ 46645)
the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when schools will receive corrected performance and assessment data. (PQ 46644)
In response to PQ 46392, the PANDA (Performance and Assessment) report issued to all mainstream maintained secondary schools in England on 23 December 2005 was part of a series of reports published in 2005/06. Six sets of PANDA reports have been produced and made available to schools so far in 2005/06.
For all 3,400 mainstream maintained secondary schools in England the following PANDAs were produced:
The total cost to Ofsted of developing, producing and supporting schools and inspectors in using the PANDAs in 2005/06 was £290,000. Appendix A provides a breakdown of these costs.
This annual cost includes the development costs associated with the release of a New Style" PANDA in September 2005. This and subsequent PANDAs contained new analysis using more sophisticated techniques and improved presentations.
It is not possible to identify the exact cost of producing the PANDA reports released on 23 December 2005 since the direct staff costs incurred cannot be attributed separately to the development, production and support to schools and inspectors in their use of the PANDA. However the cost of developing, producing and supporting schools and inspectors in the use of this particular PANDA has been estimated to be £50,000, equal to 1/6th of the annual cost of producing the six sets of PANDA reports released in 2005/06.
In response to PQ 46645, the New Style" PANDA based on 2005 unvalidated data and released on 23 December 2005 contained an error. The analysis in table 3.4.14 excluded A* grades from the calculations. The error required one line of programming code to be corrected. Following the correction, the production of the revised documents required IT processing time which incurred no additional cost. The only additional cost was for a letter sent to all secondary schools informing them of the error and the remedial action being taken. This additional letter cost £1,500.
In response to PQ 46644, a corrected New Style" PANDA based on 2005 unvalidated data was made available for schools to download from the Ofsted website on 26 January 2006.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Jacqui Smith and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Schools (Leicestershire)
Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Leicestershire were classed as outstanding in their last Ofsted report. [44841]
Jacqui Smith: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Maurice Smith, has written to my hon. Friend and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Maurice Smith, dated 26 January 2006:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
You asked how many schools in Leicestershire were classed as outstanding in their last Ofsted report.
Inspectors have made judgements about schools' overall effectiveness since January 2000. Until July 2005 this judgement was made using a seven point scale, with the highest being
- excellent. Since September 2005 the judgement has been made using a four point scale. This response relates to schools judged to be either excellent or outstanding in their most recent inspection. Not quite all schools in Leicester City and Leicestershire, 92% and 97% respectively, were inspected between January 2000 and December 2005.
Three schools in Leicester City and two in Leicestershire were judged to be excellent, using the pre-September 2005 framework. One* school in Leicester City and three* schools in Leicestershire were judged to be outstanding, using the framework now in use.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Jacqui Smith and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
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