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7 Jun 2006 : Column 656W—continued
Physical Exercise
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to increase the awareness of children and parents about the importance of regular physical exercise and healthy eating outside the school environment. [71386]
Jim Knight: The Healthy Schools’ Programme includes physical activity and healthy eating as compulsory elements that schools will need to address to achieve the National Healthy Schools’ Standard. The programme encourages children and parents to adopt a healthy lifestyle within and beyond the school environment. We are aiming for all schools to be working towards ‘Healthy School’ status by 2009.
The national PE, School Sport and Club Links (PESSCL) strategy has set an ambitious target to increase the percentage of 5-16 year olds who spend at least two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport, within and beyond the curriculum, to 75 per cent. by 2006, and to raise this to 85 per cent. by 2008. The strategy is also encouraging children and young people to participate in sports clubs.
Food education within the National Curriculum aims to develop healthy eating habits both inside and outside the school environment. Pupils should learn about diet, nutrition, cooking, food hygiene and safety. In addition, the School Food Trust will play a key role in taking forward the Government’s programme for improving school food. It will give independent support and advice to schools and parents to improve the standard of school meals and to ensure that the issue of school food remains high on the agenda. We have developed a parents’ toolkit “Food in Schools: A
short guide for parents and carers” which encourages parents to take an interest in the food their children are being served at school and supporting what happens at school in the home.
Private Members' Bills
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the Private Members' Bills in respect of which his Department adopted a policy of neutrality in each Session since 2001-02; and if he will make a statement. [72118]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is not collected by the Department.
Pupil Numbers
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many pupils are being taught at the temporary school at Oakgrove; how long the temporary school will remain in place; and what estimate he has made of the number of pupils who will be taught there in (a) September 2006, (b) July 2007 and (c) September 2007; [75494]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of pupils who will be taught in (a) Bradwell Village, (b) Caroline Haslett, (c) Green Park, (d) Olney Infants, (e) Lord Grey, (f) The Walnuts, (g) White Spire and (h) Sir Frank Markham schools in (i) September 2006, (ii) July 2007 and (iii) September 2007. [75495]
Jim Knight: Local authorities are responsible for school place planning and the Secretary of State does not make estimates of pupil numbers. As part of the annual surplus places survey, however, the Department collects local authority area level forecasts of the number of primary and secondary pupils. We do not collect forecasts at school level. The following table shows Milton Keynes estimated pupil numbers at September 2006 and 2007:
| 2006 | 2007 | |
| Source: 2005 Surplus Places Survey | ||
Runaway Children
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in (a) Torbay and (b) England have been reported as having run away since 2001. [72021]
Mr. Dhanda: Statistics on the numbers of all children who are reported as having run away or missing are not collected centrally. The Children's Society estimates that each year in the UK 100,000 children run away or are forced to leave home to escape problems.
The Home Office has been working with the Association of Chief Police Officers and the National
Missing Persons Helpline to establish joint working arrangements to improve the recording, sharing and exchange of information, to improve the way in which missing persons are dealt with, and to inform our understanding of the problem in order to develop strategies to address it. Part of this work includes establishment of a comprehensive national police database of missing and unidentified people reported either to the police or the helpline.
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what information and support is available for teachers and schools on preventing children and young people from running away from home or care; and how that support may be accessed. [72153]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 18 June 2006]: Schools’ core business is teaching and learning, but teachers themselves recognise that to achieve the best results they must supplement their focus on teaching and learning with appropriate additional support, and work with other professional agencies to remove barriers to achievement. The Every Child Matters reforms will help them do this by enabling schools to link in with wider children's services, and access their expertise and experience. This is particularly useful in helping schools respond to the needs of more vulnerable young people, such as those who may run away. In addition, the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme is improving integrated working at the local level along with enhanced information sharing between children's services leading to earlier identification of young people's needs.
More broadly, there exist opportunities within the current curriculum, under PSHE and Citizenship Frameworks, for schools to explore issues to do with recognising and managing risks (i.e. if you run away, what risks would you face); understanding emotions and strategies for dealing with stress; the importance of family and stable relationships; and knowing where to get help. We are not prescriptive with schools about what issues schools explore to achieve the learning objectives set out within the frameworks, and local need determines local provision.
In addition, DfES has run 6 development projects to test out how best to provide safe, flexible and responsive community-based services that can be easily incorporated into mainstream children's services. When we disseminate the lessons learnt so far from these, later this year, they will include information, materials and support models from work with schools in the pilot areas.
School Statistics
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) secondary and (b) primary schools in England are (i) community, (ii) voluntary controlled, (iii) voluntary aided, (iv) foundation, (v) city technology college, (vi) academy and (vii) other; and what percentage of children in each category of school (A) are in receipt of free school meals, (B) have special educational needs and (C) are from ethnic minority families. [68538]
Jim Knight [holding answer 10 May 2006]: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Maintained primary and secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies: school meals, special educational needs and ethnicity data, January 2006 (Provisional)( 1, ) England | |||||
| Maintained Primary( 2) | |||||
| Community | Voluntary Controlled | Voluntary Aided | Foundation | Total | |
| Maintained Secondary( 2) | |||||
| Community | Voluntary Controlled | Voluntary Aided | Foundation | Total | |
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