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Mobile Telephones

Stephen Hesford: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in (a) Wirral West, (b) Wirral Local Education Authority and (c) England have been caught using a mobile telephone to cheat in an examination in each of the last three academic years; and if she will make a statement. [64314]

Bill Rammell: Any candidate who takes a mobile phone into an examination is guilty of malpractice under the general qualifications regulations, regardless of whether or not they planned to use it to cheat. In summer 2005, around 1,100 candidates were penalised for bringing mobile phones into examinations set by the three England-based awarding bodies, according to a report recently published by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

A geographical breakdown of these figures is not available centrally.

The QCA is working with the awarding bodies which provide public examinations and with everyone in the system to ensure that they understand the penalties of malpractice.

GCSEs

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people have left school in (a) Ribble Valley and (b) Lancashire with less than the equivalent of five GCSEs at grades A to C in each year since 1997. [63196]

 
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Bill Rammell: The figures requested are shown in the following table.
Proportion of 15-year-olds⁽²⁵⁸⁾ not achieving five or more A* to C grades at GCSE and equivalent⁽²⁵⁹⁾ in Ribble Valley constituency, maintained schools only

	Number of 15-year-old pupils in Ribble Valley constituency(260)	Number not achieving 5+A*-C	Percentage not achieving 5+A*-C
1997	1,258	519	41.3
1998	1,293	501	38.7
1999	1,307	523	40.0
2000	1,299	476	36.6
2001	1,342	493	36.7
2002	1,336	451	33.8
2003	1,373	486	35.4
2004	1,590	605	38.1
2005	1,595	556	34.9

⁽²⁵⁸⁾ Age at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).
⁽²⁵⁹⁾ From 1997 includes GNVQ equivalences and from 2004 other equivalences approved for use pre-16.
⁽²⁶⁰⁾ Pupils attending schools located in Ribble Valley constituency



Proportion of 15-year-olds⁽²⁶¹⁾ not achieving five or more A* to C grades at GCSE and equivalent⁽²⁶²⁾in Lancashire local authority, maintained schools only

	Number of 15-year-old pupils in Lancashire local authority	Number not achieving 5+A*-C	Percentage not achieving 5+A*-C
1997	16,288	9,153	56.2
1998	13,071	6,931	53.0
1999	13,216	6,870	52.0
2000	13,480	6,795	50.4
2001	13,602	6,788	49.9
2002	13,841	6,686	48.3
2003	14,056	6,556	46.6
2004	14,717	6,796	46.2
2005	14,798	6,785	45.9

⁽²⁶¹⁾ Age at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).
⁽²⁶²⁾ From 1997 includes GNVQ equivalences and from 2004 other equivalences approved for use pre-16.

The proportion of 15-year-olds in England achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalent has improved by 11 percentage points from 45.1 per cent. in 1997 to 56.3 per cent. in 2005. The proportion of pupils in Ribble Valley achieving this standard is well above the national average and the average for Lancashire as a whole.

LEA Boundaries

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils being educated in the East Riding of Yorkshire live inside the Kingston-upon-Hull local education authority boundary; and if she will make a statement. [62356]

Bill Rammell: The information requested has been provided in the following table.
Percentage of pupils⁽²⁶³⁾ educated within the East Riding of Yorkshire residing within the Kingston-Upon-Hull local authority (LA) boundary

	Number of pupils in schools maintained by the East Riding of Yorkshire LA	Number of pupils in residence in Kingston-upon-Hull LA attending schools maintained by the East Riding of Yorkshire LA	Percentage of pupils in residence in Kingston-upon-Hull LA attending schools maintained by the East Riding of Yorkshire LA
Primary(264)	22,071	766	3.5
Secondary(265)	20,344	1,474	7.2
Special(266)	115	3	2.6
Total	42,530	2,243	5.3

⁽²⁶³⁾ Includes pupils aged five to 15 years, solely registered or main registration of dually registered pupils, excludes boarders.
⁽²⁶⁴⁾ Includes middle deemed primary.
⁽²⁶⁵⁾ Includes secondary and middle deemed secondary.
⁽²⁶⁶⁾ Includes special and non-maintained special.
Source:
Annual Schools Census 2005





 
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Level 3 Education

John Penrose: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has for changing the (a) funding and (b) charging arrangements for level 3 education for people over 25 years once level 3 education becomes free for people under 25 years. [63365]

Beverley Hughes: The White Paper on Further Education: Raising Skills, Improving Life Chances reaffirmed that, while there is more funding going into the sector, there is a need to focus more on the key priorities of raising participation and achievement amongst young people and providing adults with the basic platform of skills and qualifications needed for employability and further learning. It also reaffirmed the principle that adults and employers should contribute to the costs of learning in line with the benefits they receive. Consistent with that principle the national fee assumption for adult learners not covered by national entitlements, including adults over the age of 25 studying for a level 3 qualification, will rise and will reach 37.5 per cent. in 2007/08 compared to the current figure of 27.5 per cent. There will still be concessions for people on means-tested benefits, the pension (guarantee) credit, and higher rates of the working tax credit.

The entitlement to free tuition for 19 to 25-year-olds studying for their first full level 3 qualification, which is intended to help young adults seeking to complete their initial education and who may not have had the opportunity to do so satisfactorily by age 19, will be introduced in August 2007. It will be supported by £25 million of additional funding on top of existing planned funding for adult learning and will therefore not change the funding or charging arrangements for older adults, who will continue to benefit from the 48 per cent. real increase in funding that this Government has made in further education since 1997. Additionally, adults of all ages, including those aged over 25, will benefit from the introduction of the Train to Gain service for employers and Learning Accounts for level 3 qualifications.

Parliamentary Questions

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when she will reply to Questions (a) 54835 and (b) 54836 tabled by the hon. Member forCity of York on 24 February 2006, on university staff. [64446]

Bill Rammell: I replied to my hon. Friend on 18 April 2006.

Primary Schools

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has made of the number of post-graduate certificate in education places for primary school teachers that will be provided by
 
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institutions in England for the 2006/07 academic year; and what percentage change that represents from 2005/06. [63648]

Bill Rammell: The Department sets the recruitment target for new entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) separately for primary and secondary courses. For 2006/07, the overall recruitment target for new entrants to primary school ITT is 15,300. The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) is responsible for allocating the 15,300 places between postgraduate and undergraduate primary courses.

In 2006/07, 8,791 places have been allocated for the Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) for primary school teachers provided by institutions in England. This represents a 3.4 per cent. reduction in the number of places (9,100) allocated in 2005/06. The remaining places are allocated for undergraduate and employment based routes.

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