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15 May 2006 : Column 780W—continued
Financial Education Initiatives
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what initiatives her Department and its non-departmental bodies support to promote (a) financial education, (b) financial advice, (c) financial inclusion and (d) financial capability; which organisations are involved in delivering each initiative; and how much funding is provided to each by (i) her Department and its non-departmental public bodies, (ii) other Government Departments, (iii) the private sector and (iv) the voluntary sector. [66580]
Bill Rammell: The Department is strengthening financial education as part of our 14-19 reforms. Financial capability education will be taught more explicitly in the new functional mathematics component of GCSE mathematics. Functional mathematics will also form part of the core of the new 14-19 specialised Diplomas. These initiatives support existing opportunities in Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), Citizenship, Business Studies and Careers Education for improving young people's understanding of financial issues. We have worked with QCA to offer schools new units of work to support financial capability education, available at www.qca.org.uk/pshe.
The Department's “Skills for Life” Strategy has provided in excess of £3 million since 2001 to fund a financial literacy programme, which is run on behalf of the Government by the Basic Skills Agency (BSA). We have allocated £60 million a year for the three academic years from September 2005 to support a new focus on enterprise education in all secondary schools in England. We work with the Personal Finance Education Group (PREG) to develop and disseminate resources materials to support teachers in the classroom. The Department is also working closely with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to ensure that its work supports the educational aspects of the National Strategy for Financial Capability.
Foreign Language Teaching
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to promote co-operation in foreign language teaching between secondary and primary schools. [70877]
Jim Knight: Many secondary schools support language learning in primary schools by sharing teacher expertise, resource and use of facilities. In April 2006 the Department provided additional funding of £30,000 to every existing Specialist Language College and suggested a proportion of the funding be used to support the development and delivery of language learning programmes in primary schools. In addition £49.5 million will be distributed among all local authorities during the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to support the implementation of languages at Key Stage 2. The Department suggested part of this funding could be used to develop links between primary and secondary schools to support programmes. In October 2005 the Department launched the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages which contains guidance for schools on progression of language learning within Key Stage 2 and into Key Stage 3.
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of students at primary school are being taught foreign languages. [70878]
Jim Knight: The Department does not collect data on the proportion of pupils studying a language in primary schools. However, a "Headspace" survey undertaken by Education Guardian and EdComs in 2005 indicated that 56 per cent. of primary schools are now planning or already implementing primary language learning programmes, compared with 46 per cent. in an earlier "Headspace" survey.
Information Provision
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to her answer of 23 March 2006, Official Report, column 543W, what estimate she has made of the cost of providing the information. [68755]
Bill Rammell: The Department does not hold this information centrally and to compile the information from over 100 business units would incur costs well in excess of the disproportionate cost threshold.
Key Worker Funding
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria are used to determine the eligibility of teachers for key worker funding for affordable homes. [66039]
Jim Knight: The Department for Communities and Local Government has overall responsibility for setting the criteria individuals must satisfy in order to qualify for funding for affordable homes. Within those criteria, Sponsor Government Departments select the eligible groups for individual sectors. For the education sector, the Department for Education and Skills recommends that teachers with Qualified Teacher Status working in the maintained sector can apply for assistance. Full details of qualifying criteria can be found in Annex B of the Capital Funding Guide on the Housing Corporation's website www.housingcorp.gov.uk.
Lecturers (Salaries)
Mrs. Humble: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average salary was for a lecturer in further education in (a) 1997 and (b) the latest year for which information is available. [66874]
Bill Rammell: The average salary for full-time further education lecturers in England was £23,770 in March 1997 and £29,640 in March 2004, the latest information available. This represents a 24.7 per cent. increase compared to a cumulative inflation rate of 15 per cent. for the same period.
Muslim Colleges
Mr. Winnick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether his Department issues guidance to Muslim colleges in England on content of courses for those who wish to become imams; and if he will make a statement. [65770]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 25 April 2006]: For courses provided in publicly-funded Further Education Colleges and Higher Education Institutions, quality and standards are assured through independent inspection. With our support, the HE sector's Equality Challenge Unit has issued guidance to institutions on dealing with hate crimes and intolerance on campus. The Centre for Excellence in Leadership (CEL) for the FE system has also published the Faith Community Tool Kit. This provides an excellent source of information and advice to help leaders across the learning and skills sector to engage effectively with learners and staff from multi-faith communities. It draws out the valuable contribution people's beliefs can bring to their work, workplace or learning.
Nursery Places
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many nursery and crèche places are provided for people working in his Department; what charges are made for the provision of such services; and what other facilities are provided for the children of employees of his Department. [67360]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department is committed to quality child care support for staff and provides a range of options which consists of the following:
Fifty nursery places on its Runcorn and Sheffield sites. In Runcorn; parents pay £16.90 per day and receive a departmental subsidy of £6.80 per day. In Sheffield, parents pay £16.50 and receive a departmental subsidy of £6.50 per day;
Pre-school age child care vouchers which are payable for 48 weeks per year and are valued at £20 per week for Runcorn, Sheffield and Darlington staff and £30 per week for London staff. These amounts are pro-rated for part-time staff. Currently, 154 parents received these vouchers;
School age vouchers, introduced from 1 May 2006, which replaced departmental play scheme subsidy previously paid to staff, on all sites. These vouchers are paid monthly, London staff receive £38 per month and staff on other sites receive £32 per month, pro-rated for part-time staff. These vouchers offer parents greater flexibility and choice. Responses to a recent child
care survey indicate that the introduction of the new school age voucher will provide financial support for over 350 school age children. This compares favourably to the 130 children previously supported under the subsidised play scheme arrangements; and
In addition, a Childcare Salary Sacrifice scheme was introduced on 1 May 2006. This will enable staff to make savings on tax and national insurance contributions related to child care costs. As the scheme is new, applications are currently being processed and take-up figures are currently unavailable.
Oxbridge Students
Patrick Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students attending (a) Oxford and (b) Cambridge universities in the last year for which figures are available previously attended a (i) state grammar school and (ii) maintained school. [62709]
Bill Rammell: The latest available information from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) showing the previous school type of students obtaining places in 2005 is shown in the table. The figures are limited to students who applied to full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS, so they do not therefore cover part-time students or those full-time students who apply directly to Oxbridge.
| UK domiciled students accepted to full-time undergraduate courses via UCAS, autumn 2005 | ||||
| Cambridge university | Oxford university | |||
| Previous school type: | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage |
| (1) Not all students provide details of their previous school. Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Services (UCAS). |
Playing Fields Disposal
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate has been made of the likely total capital receipts from disposal of playing fields associated with private finance schemes in the secondary school sector in England at 2006 prices; what the total area of such playing fields is; and if he will make a statement. [70802]
Jim Knight: There have been seven applications approved that involve the sale of school playing fields which are capable of forming at least a small sports pitch, and which are associated with private finance schemes in the secondary school sector in England. The total area of these fields amount to 115,575 square metres and the expected capital receipt is around £24.5 million. Other proceeds from disposals, if approved, will depend on the value of the land at the time the application is made.
Prison Education
Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the recommendations of the Seventh Report from the Education and Skills Committee for Session 2004-05 on Prison Education have (a) been met, (b) had no action taken in respect of them and (c) been rejected; and if he will make a statement. [66549]
Phil Hope: In June 2005, the Government responded comprehensively to the Education and Skills Select Committee report.
The Government already had substantial plans to take action on many of the recommendations contained in the Select Committee's report, and many of these would fall into a category ‘action taken in response’. Our most recent analysis shows that action is being taken in response to 27 of the recommendations; 18 have been met; and there were four where the Committee's recommendation did not call for any
action. For six of the recommendations the necessary action is under way but long-term, making the term ‘met’ less easy to measure.
The Government made clear in their response that they did not agree with six of the recommendations. We rejected the Committee's assertion (recommendation 6) that no over-arching strategy was in place, although we have since published the Green Paper “Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment” on which we are still consulting; although we agree that offenders with special needs should be supported, we do not necessarily agree that the introduction of special educational needs coordinators and learning support assistants to every adult prison is the right solution (recommendations 11 and 12); we see no case for guaranteeing prisoners an entitlement to learning and skills that is greater than the entitlements available for the general population (recommendation 14); progress made in recent years in improving learning and skills in prisons addresses the Committee's points in recommendation 20; and, although the Government did not believe at the time of their response that the proposal to equalise pay across all activities was practical, we are consulting on this matter through the Green Paper (recommendation 47).
Recruitment
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much (a) his Department and (b) its agencies spent on recruitment, search and selection agencies in each of the last five years. [68342]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is not collected centrally in the format requested and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Any external recruitment campaign within the Department is based on business need and each case is considered separately. Where the services of search and selection agencies are required, agreed criteria and support delivery are drawn from the Cabinet Office Central Framework Agreement.
Redundancies
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) teachers and (b) support staff in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools he estimates will be made redundant in (A) 2006-07 and (B) 2007-08 as a result of falling rolls; and if he will make a statement. [67405]
Jim Knight [holding answer 2 May 2006]: The number of teachers needed over time will vary from one area to another and schools and local authorities will need to decide how they manage numbers of teacher and support staff posts on the basis of anticipated local needs. In many cases there will be no need for redundancies because natural wastage and reduced numbers of newly-qualified teachers will play an important part in managing staff numbers.
To help schools and local authorities who will need to manage the effects of falling rolls we have published a web-based toolkit which offers a range of practical advice and guidance. The toolkit can be found at www.teachernet.gov.uk/fallingrolls.
As far as teachers are concerned, the Department's supply modelling has allowed for falling rolls by reducing the number of teacher training places in 2005/06 for both primary and secondary teaching. However, overall judgments on the number of teachers required also depend on other factors such as those leaving and returning to the profession and this will vary from one area to another. Because of these factors and local variations, teacher numbers have continued to rise. On a full time equivalent basis, their numbers rose by 3,500 to 435,400 in England in January 2006.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on redundancy costs in his Department and its agencies in each year since 1997. [70500]
Mr. Dhanda: There have been no redundancies in the Department but we have run a series of voluntary early release schemes. The total costs to my Department arising from the provisions of the Civil Service Compensation Scheme since 1997 were as follows:
| Financial year | Total cost to DfES (£ million) |
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