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6 Mar 2006 : Column 1234W—continued
Sex Offenders
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether registered sex offenders have been approved by her Department to work in Reading local education authority schools. [45510]
Ruth Kelly: My Department does not approve people to work in schools.
My statement, and the accompanying report, of 19 January set out clearly the Government's analysis of, and response to, issues concerning child protection and List 99, together with the action we are currently taking.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether registered sex offenders have been approved by her Department to work in Coventry local education authority schools. [46166]
Ruth Kelly: My Department does not 'approve' individuals to work in schools. My statement, and the accompanying report, of 19 January set out clearly the Government's analysis of, and response to, issues concerning child protection and List 99, together with the action we are currently taking.
Teaching Assistants
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants have (a) been dismissed and (b) left primary schools in Sheffield since 2001; and what the reasons for the dismissal or departure were in each case. [55383]
Jacqui Smith [holding answer 2 March 2006]: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Traveller Children (West Lancashire)
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her policy is on education provision for Traveller children in West Lancashire. [52784]
Jacqui Smith: We are concerned that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils are amongst the lowest achieving in our schools. In 2003 the Government launched a national strategy to tackle the underachievement of minority ethnic pupils. This included a range of initiatives aimed at supporting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young people, including a national pilot project testing strategies to improve attendance and raise attainment.
The findings from this pilot have informed the development of a national programme of work to support local authorities and schools with large numbers of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils to better
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meet their needs. This will be launched in April 2006 and follows up a commitment we made in the schools White Paper.
Truancy
Mr. Gauke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the cost has been of her Department's campaigns designed to reduce truancy since 1997. [52029]
John Smith: Truancy" is one of several reasons why a child may be absent from school without authorisation. My Department has spent the following on measures aimed solely at reducing absence from schools:
£11.25 million to help 530 secondary schools which had higher than average rates of unauthorised absence to purchase electronic registration systems;
£0.8 million on advisers working within the National Strategies to provide support to local authorities on their attendance strategies;
£0.3 million on eight advisers seconded from local authorities to the Department to work with 60 local authorities with high levels of unauthorised absence; and
In addition to these specific measures my Department has funded other initiatives such as the Behaviour Improvement Programme which have had, as part of their overall objectives, the reduction of absence and truancy.
Trust Schools
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions she and her officials have had with universities in the north west of England on their potential involvement in proposed trust schools. [54006]
Jacqui Smith:
Ministers and Officials have met a wide variety of schools and organisations, including some higher education institutions in the North West, to explore interest and discuss ideas for how the trust school model might be developed. We do not hold a comprehensive list of every organisation that has expressed interest or asked for information about forming a trust to support a school. I have placed in the Library of the House a list of a number of those organisations with whom we have discussed trust schools since publication of the White Paper. We are engaged in early discussions with a number of other organisations, including some hgher education ienstitutions in the North West and will release information about them once they have agreed to be involved in a pathfinder (except in cases where release might prejudice discussions with stakeholders in the project) or if they have agreed to be publicly named as working with the Government to develop the trust school model.
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Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria she will set to determine who will be able to form a trust school; and if she will make a statement. [55241]
Jacqui Smith: It will be for individual school governing bodies to decide, following consultation with parents and other stakeholders, whether they want to acquire a Trust and choose whom they want to work with to support them. However there will be safeguards. All Trusts must be charities and the consultation will need to set out who the members of the charity will be. Local Authorities will be able to refer plans to acquire a Trust to the Schools Adjudicator if it is clear the school has not consulted properly, or if they are concerned that the acquisition of the trust would have a negative impact on school standards.
Certain categories of people will not be allowed to be involved in a trust. These will include those disqualified under company or charity law and those who have been disqualified from working with children and young people. If enacted, the Education and Inspections Bill will also put into place other safeguards. It would give the Secretary of State the power to make regulations prescribing requirements as to persons to be disqualified from acting as charity Trustees. In addition, it would give the Secretary of State a reserve power, in prescribed cases, to remove any charity Trustee, even if the person is not otherwise disqualified, and to appoint charity Trustees.
Work Programmes
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the (a) current work programme and (b) funding for 2005–06 is for (i) the Adult Learning Inspectorate, (ii) Partnership for Schools, (iii) National College of School Leadership, (iv) the Learning and Skills Council, (v) the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services, (vi) the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, (vii) the General Teaching Council and (viii) the Office for Fair Access. [53351]
Bill Rammell: Each NDPB's plans for the current year are set out in its corporate plan or annual statement of priorities. I have arranged for copies of the relevant documents to be placed in the House of Commons Library. Table 1 lists the amount of funding given to each organisation.
Note:
All figures rounded to the nearest £100,000.