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Communication Aids

Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what factors underlay the decision to discontinue the Communication Aids Project from 1 April 2006; and if she will make a statement on the future funding mechanisms for assisting children and adults with complex communication issues. [54794]

Maria Eagle: Since it went live in April 2002, the Communication Aids Project has assisted some 4,000 children of school age experiencing significant difficulty in communicating with those around them. The project has been successful but we have always made it clear, through the referral process and otherwise, that CAP was there to supplement, and not replace, provision made locally. The present tranche of funding is time-limited and comes to an end in March 2006. With other pressures on funding arising from the Government's ambitious agenda for education, it has not been possible to extend the funding for CAP.

Addressing severe communication difficulties is clearly an important part of meeting individual needs for local service providers. Where children are concerned, we would be looking to children's services, through children's trusts, to provide appropriate support and equipment to all disabled children. Adult needs would be met by local authorities and primary care trusts working together through their integrated community equipment services.

Corporate Services

Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she has taken to reduce the costs of the corporate services of (a) her Department, (b) its non-departmental public bodies and (c) Ofsted; and what savings have been made as a consequence. [52398]

Ruth Kelly: The Department has agreed budgets which reflect a commitment to make 15 percent. efficiency savings in real terms in administrative expenditure (of which corporate services expenditure is an element) by 2007–08, within the Department itself,
 
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and across the landscape of its non-departmental public bodies and Ofsted. We are monitoring spend across all these budgets to ensure spend does not exceed profiled levels.

Work is also underway to examine how the sharing of corporate services can produce further efficiencies for the department and its NDPBs.

My Department reported progress towards our Gershon Review target in the Department's autumn performance report. It will report further progress in the departmental annual report which we expect to publish in April.

Criminal Records Bureau

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of (a) teaching staff and (b) non-teaching staff in schools in England have been checked by the Criminal Records Bureau, broken down by local education authority. [50200]

Ruth Kelly: The information is not available in the format requested.

Disadvantaged Children

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps her Department plans to take to ensure that disadvantaged children are given appropriate school placements under the White Paper proposals. [50508]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 14 February 2006]: We will place a duty on local authorities to provide advice and assistance to parents when expressing preferences for schools. We are investing in a network of choice advisers to provide practical support to parents most likely to need extra help with the admissions process. This will ensure that ALL parents, including the most disadvantaged, will be able to make an informed choice of school for their child.
 
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We will make it easier for schools to adopt banding to ensure that the pupils admitted to the schools are representative of all levels of ability. This can give children living further away more chance of obtaining entry to schools than would have been the case if distance had been the main criterion. We also intend to reduce inequalities by giving disadvantaged parents easier access to a wider choice of schools. The White Paper proposals will extend school transport rights for low income groups to remove barriers to effective choice.

School failure is more prevalent in deprived areas, so disadvantaged children may be more likely than their peers to attend a weak school. The Schools White Paper proposals contain firm measures to ensure that school failure and underperformance is addressed more rapidly and more decisively.

Education (Peterborough)

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support will be provided in respect of free school transport for less well off children attending (a) the Thomas Deacon Academy and (b) the Voyager School in Peterborough constituency. [54860]

Jacqui Smith: Current legislation requires local authorities to make transport arrangements for pupils of compulsory school age who attend their nearest suitable school, and where this is beyond statutory walking distance (3 miles for secondary aged pupils). Pupils meeting these criteria will have transport arrangements made for them by the local authority.

The Education and Inspections Bill includes proposals to extend entitlement to free home to school transport for low income families—for secondary aged pupils to any one of the three nearest suitable schools, where the distance travelled is between two and six miles.

Education Funding

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding her Department allocated for IT equipment in schools in (a) Leicester and (b) England in each year between 1997 and 2005. [50145]

Jacqui Smith: The Department does not hold information on funding for ICT at constituency level. However, Leicester East is in Leicester City LA and allocations for this authority, between 1998–2005, are detailed in 'Funding for ICT in Schools in England' which is available in the House Library. The document also includes total funding allocations for schools in England in each year. The ICT funding allocation for
 
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Leicester City LA in 2005–2006 was £2,530,305 and the total allocation for ICT in schools in England was £611 million.

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the dedicated school grant per pupil was in Milton Keynes in 2004–05; and what she estimates the grant per pupil will be in each of the next three years. [55399]

Jacqui Smith: The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is being introduced from 2006–07. The data I placed in the Library to accompany my written statement of 7 December 2005 on the School Funding Settlement for 2006–07 and 2007–08, sets out how much DSG each authority will receive for those years. That statement and more detailed information may be found on the Teachernet website at: www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/schoolfundinq/2006–07_funding_arrangements/

Examination Report

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she expects the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to publish its second report into the use of coursework in GCSE and GCE A level exams. [53474]

Jacqui Smith: The 14–19 Education and Skills White Paper asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority to carry out a review of coursework in GCSE and A level qualifications with a view to reducing the cumulative burden. We expect to receive the outcome of QCA's review by Easter 2006.

Foreign Language Teaching

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools teach at least two foreign languages in each year group. [54903]

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is not held centrally. Beyond delivering the core subjects, schools are free to choose what other subjects they teach.

GCSEs

Mr. Byers: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in secondary schools with over 20 percent. of pupils entitled to free school meals, what is (a) (i) the percentage of such pupils and (ii) the overall proportion leaving without a qualification and (b) the overall proportion achieving grade A* to C at GCSE or equivalent. [54074]

Jacqui Smith [holding answer 27 February 2006]: The information requested for academic year 2004/05 can be found in the following table.

Figures for all maintained mainstream schools have been provided for comparison.

	Maintained mainstream1 secondary schools with >20 percent. FSM	All maintained mainstream1 secondary schools
Number of schools	851	3,123
Background information
Total number of pupils(54)	772,518	3,206,924
Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals(55)	33.2	14.3
GCSE and equivalent achievements
Total number of pupils at the end of KS4J	139,528	571,423
Percentage of pupils at the end of KS4 achieving5:
No qualification	4.8	2.6
5 or more A*-C at GCSE and equivalent	41.5	55.9

⁽⁵³⁾ Maintained mainstream schools include academies, community schools, voluntary aided schools, voluntary controlled schools, Foundation schools and city technology colleges.
⁽⁵⁴⁾ Includes all pupils with sole and dual (main) enrolment status on the schools' registers.
⁽⁵⁵⁾ The number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) expressed as a percentage of the school population.
⁽⁵⁶⁾ Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in academic year 2004/05.
⁽⁵⁷⁾ Includes achievements for these pupils in other academic years.



 
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