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7 Mar 2006 : Column 1463W—continued
School Closures
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how parents may appeal against a decision to close a school taken by a school organisation committee. [50059]
Jacqui Smith: The procedures established by the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 for deciding changes to school organisation do not provide for appeals against decisions on statutory proposals taken by the local School Organisation Committee. Any SOC decision on statutory proposals must be unanimous. Where a SOC cannot reach a unanimous view proposals are decided by the independent Schools Adjudicator.
School Curriculum
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what legislative provision governs (a) the curriculum for and (b) the recruitment of teaching staff in religious education in (i) community schools, (ii) schools with a religious ethos and (iii) academies. [53524]
Jacqui Smith: Legislative provision for the curriculum in religious education in (i) community schools and (ii) maintained schools with a religious ethos is contained in the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (Schedule 19). The requirements on (iii) academies with regard to religious education are held within their Funding Agreements with the Secretary of State.
The relevant legislative provisions for the recruitment of staff in religious education in (i) community schools and (ii) maintained schools with a religious character are sections 54 and sections 58–60 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 respectively. Academies are governed by general employment laws. However, as with maintained schools with a religious ethos, where an Academy is designated as having a religious character, teachers may be recruited on the basis of their religious views and practices.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what legal provisions govern (a) the content of and (b) the rights of pupils and teachers to request withdrawal from religious worship in (i) community schools, (ii) schools with a religious ethos and (iii) academies. [53525]
Jacqui Smith: The provisions covering the nature of Collective Worship are covered by Schedule 20 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
Section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 governs the rights of parents to request withdrawal of their children from religious worship in (i) community schools and (ii) maintained schools with a religious ethos. The rights of pupils to be withdrawn from religious worship in (iii) academies are held within the Academy's Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State, and are the same as in all maintained schools.
The rights of teachers in (i) community schools are covered by section 59 of the same Act, and in (ii) maintained schools with a religious character by section 60 of the same Act. As independent schools, any
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rights which teachers may have to withdraw from religious worship in (iii) Academies will be contained in their employment contracts with the Academy.
School Finance
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools will receive extra targeted financial help in 2006–07 because they have the highest numbers of pupils who have fallen behind. [53555]
Jacqui Smith: Local authorities are responsible for distributing the grant locally to ensure that it will have maximum impact on the highest number of targeted pupils. The Department does not hold centrally a list of schools which are in receipt of this grant, though it does discuss with individual authorities how the grant is being used to narrow the achievement gap.
Mrs. Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual funding per pupil has been in (a) Gateshead and (b) Sunderland constituencies in each year since 1997. [54157]
Jacqui Smith: The information requested is only available on the basis of local authority areas. The following table sets out the figures for each financial year from 1997–98 to 2005–06.
Notes:
1. Price base: Real terms at 2004–05 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 23 December 2005.
2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS and LSC.
3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged three to 19 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.
4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC three-year-old maintained pupils and estimated three to four-year-olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers.
5. Rounding: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Status:
2005–06 figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited.
Dan Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual funding per pupil has been in (a) Bath and North East Somerset and (b) South Gloucestershire in each year since 1992. [54365]
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Jacqui Smith: As a result of data changes and changes to the school funding system, comparable figures are not available for 1992–97. The table sets out the figures in real terms for each financial year from 1997–98 to 2005–06. Total funding includes funding via Education Formula Spending/Standard Spending Assessment and revenue grants allocated at an LEA level.
In 2003–04 an additional £640 million was transferred into Education Formula Spending in respect of teachers pensions. This transfer has been excluded from the figures provided so they are on a comparable basis for years before and after the transfer.
Notes:
1. Price base: Real terms at 2004–05 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 23 December 2005.
2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS and LSC.
3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES departmental expenditure limits relevant to pupils aged three to 19 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.
4. The pupil numbers used to convert £ million figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC three-year-old maintained pupils and estimated three to four-year-olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers.
5. Rounding: figures are rounded to the nearest 10.
Status:
2005–06 figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited.
School Food
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in South Swindon have received grants for improving school food; and how much each received. [56553]
Jacqui Smith:
Every maintained primary, secondary nursery, special school and pupil referral unit in Swindon local authority received a school meals grant in October 2005. Schools were each awarded a lump sum of £1,070 per primary school and £1,500 per secondary school, with an additional amount per pupil. The per pupil amount for PRUs and all schools except nursery schools is 50p; for nursery schools it is 50p for half of FTE pupils, to reflect the fact that fewer pupils in nursery schools take school meals.
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The funding distributed in October 2005 was the first of three years of transitional funding which we have encouraged schools to put towards making sustainable improvements in school food and drink. The allocation formula to schools will remain the same for all three years of the grant.
Anne Snelgrove: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which local authorities have received a targeted school meals grant; and how much each received. [56555]
Jacqui Smith: The following table shows the amount of targeted school meals grant each local authority received in 2005–06.
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