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Schools (Extended Services)

Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in England have involved the (a) private, (b) voluntary and (c) independent sectors in providing extended services in each year for which figures are available. [56792]

Beverley Hughes: The success of the Government's vision for all schools to provide a core offer of extended services will depend upon effective partnerships with the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sectors. Local authorities and schools can benefit from the often long-standing skills, knowledge and experience that the PVI sectors have in delivering services for children, young people and the wider community. Through the National Remodelling Team we are encouraging schools and local authorities to involve existing PVI providers in both the strategic planning and delivery of activities.

At this early stage in the roll-out we do not hold data on how many schools are working with the PVI sectors. But the National Remodelling Team is monitoring how extended services are being developed, looking at the sustainability of services at school level and the effectiveness of partnerships with the PVI sectors.

Sporting Academies

Kate Hoey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the proposals in the White Paper would permit pupils to continue to be selected on sporting prowess in those schools recognised as sporting academies. [58484]

Jacqui Smith: Admission protocols that allow pupils to be admitted according to aptitude in an Academy's specialism (including sport) will remain unchanged under the proposals in the Education and Inspections Bill. Academies in general have the right to admit up to 10 per cent. of pupils according to aptitude in the Academies specialism; 11 of the 27 open Academies do so.

Any test for a pupil's aptitude for the Academy's specialism must by law be limited to assessing that particular aptitude, and must not be a general test of ability or commitment to the school. Clause 40 of the Education and Inspections Bill if enacted would reaffirm the existing ban on any new selection by ability.

Student Exchanges

Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support is provided for schools to participate in student exchange visits. [57462]

Bill Rammell: Department provides support for schools to participate in student exchange visits and links through its funding of organisations such as the British Council. Programmes include practical help with finding a partner, as well as assistance with the cost.

Increasingly, school links are being made and sustained through use of ICT. Our main focus for encouraging and facilitating new school links is the Global Gateway (www.globalgateway.org). through which schools can find a partner in another country. The site also provides advice and guidance on making international links work well, funding opportunities and gives access to other quality-assured and relevant
 
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websites. My Department also funds a wide range of school-linking programmes delivered by partner organisations.

EU funding is also available through the Socrates Programme's Comenius action, the European programme for school education. The programme is open to the 25 member states, the EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and the applicant countries —Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. Seminars for schools wishing to find partners are held regularly across Europe. The British Council publicises the programme, and holds UK regional briefing meetings to promote the opportunities. The Partbase database (partbase.eupro.se) provides schools with an on-line search facility for finding Comenius partners.

Supply Teachers

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of lessons in (a) secondary schools and (b) primary schools were taken by supply teachers in (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05, broken down by local education authority. [57245]

Jacqui Smith: The information is not collected centrally.

Sure Start

Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many under-fives she expects to participate in the Sure Start programme in (a) the constituency of Ruislip-Northwood, (b) the London borough of Hillingdon, (c) Greater London and (d) England in 2006–07. [57369]

Beverley Hughes: The information requested by constituency is not available. Information for 2006–07 is not available yet as local authorities are currently planning where and when centres in the 2006–08 phase will open. In the first phase, to 2006, the London borough of Hillingdon have planned a single centre for around 600 children under five, while in the Greater London area an estimated 184,300 children will be reached. Across England as a whole we estimate 894,000 children under five and their families will have access to children's centres' services. By the end of the second phase, that is by March 2008, we expect Sure Start children's centres will provide services for around 10,500 children aged under five in the London borough of Hillingdon, 373,600 children aged under five in Greater London and 2,132,300 children aged under five in England.

Sure Start (Oxford)

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what allocation has been made for Sure Start programmes in Oxford City for each year since its inception. [58284]

Beverley Hughes: Allocations for Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) and Children's Centres were as follows.
 
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	Rosehill SSLP (Oxford City)	Abingdon Mini SSLP (Oxfordshire)	Children's Centres (Oxfordshire)	Total Revenue Funding	Children's Centres Capital Funding
1999–2000	146,432	-	-	146,432	-
2000–01	808,673	-	-	808,673	-
2001–02	934,855	-	-	934,855	-
2002–03	1,058,500	110,757	-	1,169,257	-
2003–04	1,058,500	120,000	42,750	1,221,250	-
2004–05	1,084,963	100,000	113,531	1,298,494	50,250
2005–06	1,112,087	100,000	157,712	1,369,799	452,249

In addition, the Rosehill and Abingdon programmes had capital allocations of £1.423 million and £0.250 million respectively. These are not included in the table as there were no specific annual allocations.

Sure Start children's centre allocations are only available for Oxfordshire. It is for the local authority and their delivery partners to decide how and where the funding is spent within their area.

Teenage Conception

Mr. Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made towards reducing the under-18 conception rate by 50 per cent. by 2010. [58026]

Beverley Hughes: Steady progress is being made on reducing the under-18 conception rate. Data for 2004 (published in February 2006) shows that since the 1998 baseline year, the under-18 conception rate has fallen by 11.1 per cent. and the under-16 rate has fallen by 15.2 per cent. Both rates are now at their lowest levels since the mid-1980s. However, the current rate of decline needs to accelerate if we are to achieve the PSA target to halve the under-18 conception rate by 2010.

During the next phase of the strategy, we will focus on strengthening delivery in local areas with static or increasing rates, using the evidence of what works from areas where rates have fallen most. We will also be strengthening the links between local teenage pregnancy strategies and the policies and programmes locally that tackle the underlying causes of teenage pregnancy, such as poverty, poor educational attainment and low post-16 participation in education, employment or training.

Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teenage pregnancies there were in Tamworth constituency in the latest period for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement. [57867]

Beverley Hughes: The latest data on under-18 conception rates (2004 provisional data)—which were published by the Office for National Statistics on 23 February 2006—are only available at top-tier local authority, not district level. This data shows that steady progress is being made on reducing the under-18 conception rate. Since the 1998 baseline year, the under-18 conception rate in England has fallen by 11.1 per cent. and the under-16 rate has fallen by 15.2 per cent. Both rates are now at their lowest levels since the mid-1980s.

2004 data for Staffordshire show that performance is exceeding the progress made in England as a whole. The under-18 conception rate in Staffordshire has fallen by
 
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20 per cent.-from a rate of 43.2 per 1,000 females aged 15–17 (635 conceptions) in 1998, to a rate of 34.6 per 1,000 (550 conceptions) in 2004.

District-level data for 2003 show a rate reduction in Tamworth of 21.8 per cent. between 1998 and 2003. There were 82 under-18 conceptions in 1998 (a rate of 55.7 per 1,000), falling to 71 conceptions in 2003 (a rate of 43.6 per 1,000). 2004 district-level data will be published later this year.

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