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10 July 2006 : Column 1448W—continued
Deaf Children
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to raise the educational attainment of deaf children in (a) West Lancashire and (b) Lancashire. [83558]
Mr. Dhanda: The Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice provides advice to local authorities, and schools on their statutory duties to identify, assess and make provision for children who have special educational needs, including children who are deaf. The code sets out a graduated approach to providing support. Many children who are deaf will have statements of SEN. All statements must be reviewed at least annually. The purpose of the review is to consider a children's progress, to ensure they are achieving desired outcomes and, if necessary, to amend their statements to reflect newly identified needs and provision.
In addition, the development of the new relationship with schools brings a focus on how well schools meet the needs of all their pupils. All schools will carry out an annual self-evaluation and publish a single plan setting out their priorities for improvement in which they will need to show how all their pupils are achieving. This process will highlight any gaps in achievement between different groups of children, which will then be discussed with a locally appointed school improvement partner.
The White Paper “Higher Standards, Better Schools for All” published in October 2005, which builds on “Removing Barriers to Achievement” published in February 2004, promotes a more effectively tailored education for all children with special educational needs by increasing the sharing of expertise between special and mainstream schools, by equipping the
workforce with appropriate skills, knowledge, awareness and confidence and by promoting more effective measurement of, and accountability for, the progress made by pupils with SEN across a wide range of abilities. The White Paper also set out our plans for personalised learning; these include providing targeted support for groups of children who are at risk of under achieving, including those with SEN. We will spend an additional £565 million by 2007-08 to support schools to tailor teaching to the needs of all their pupils.
Carbon Emissions
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the carbon emissions of his Department; what commitment he has made to reducing such emissions; and if he will make a statement. [81061]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department’s most recent data on carbon emissions covers the period April 2004 to March 2005.
Carbon emissions for the Department’s five main headquarter buildings in 2004/05 were 31 kgC/M2(1).
The Department’s Sustainable Development Action plan commits us to achieving the targets set out in the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate (the Framework) The Department aims to achieve this through:
Embedding Sustainable Development into all DfES operational activity thereby demonstrating more effective delivery, reduced costs and improved progress against Government targets; and
Increasing awareness of sustainable development to gain wider buy-in and commitment from DfES staff.
(1) The figure presented above is based on kilograms of carbon emitted per square metre of lettable area in our HQ buildings. This figure excludes carbon emissions from road vehicles used for Government administrative operations as this information is not currently held.
Departmental Legislation
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what draft Bills have been produced by his Department since October 2005; how many were (a) examined and (b) are planned to be examined by (i) a departmental Select Committee and (ii) a Joint Committee; which draft Bills are still to be produced by his Department; when each is expected to be published; how many clauses each has; and if he will make a statement. [81291]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department for Education and Skills has not produced any draft Bills for pre-legislative scrutiny since October 2005. Announcements on future legislation and future draft legislation which will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny will be indicated in the Queen’s Speech.
Education Finance
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much funding Swindon received for (a) primary, (b) secondary and (c) further education in each year between 1996-97 and 2006-07. [82743]
Jim Knight: The Department does not have any figures prior to 1997-98. However, the following table sets out the total funding received by Swindon local education authority for its primary and secondary schools for the years 1997-98 to 2005-06. The Department does not collect figures for further education.
| £ million | ||
| Total funding | ||
| Three to 10-year-olds | 11 to 15-year-olds | |
| Notes: 1. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES departmental expenditure limits relevant to pupils aged three to 10 and 11 to 15 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level. 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment/Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS. 3. Where responsibility for funding a school has transferred from an authority, related funding no longer appears in the series. 4. Figures are rounded to the nearest £0.1 million. Real terms at 2004-05 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 23 December 2005. 5. 2003-04 to 2005-06 figures are provisional as some grants have not yet been finalised/audited. | ||
The following figures are taken from the new Dedicated Schools Grant. They are not comparable with those for the earlier years.
| £ million | |
| Notes: 1. The figures from 1997-98 to 2005-06 are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which forms the Education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This is an assessment of what local authorities need to fund education rather than what they spend, in 2006-07 funding for schools changed with the introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which is based largely on an authority’s previous spending. 2. The DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS was made of both a schools and an LEA block to cover LEA central functions. DSG only covers the schools block, LEA block items are still funded through the Local Government Finance Settlement and cannot be separately identified. This means the two sets of figures are not comparable. A new funding series is currently being developed by the Department. 3. There are other grants that support the schools budget. These are not included in the provided DSG figures as some of these grant figures are not yet available. 4. Figures are in cash terms and include the pensions transfer. | |
Education Maintenance Allowance
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students receiving the education maintenance allowance have gone on to study in higher education. [83133]
Mr. Dhanda:
The national education maintenance allowance (EMA) scheme was rolled out to 16-year-olds in the 2004/05 academic year and therefore these
young people will not be entering higher education (HE) until the 2006/07 academic year at the earliest. Some young people may also take three years in post-compulsory education to achieve the qualifications necessary to enter higher education, or may defer entry. As a result, no data is currently available on the progression of these students into HE.
The Learning and Skills Council (which operates the scheme on behalf of DfES), is commissioning evaluation that will, when appropriate data becomes available, examine the impact of EMA on subsequent application to, and participation in, higher education.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been paid through the education maintenance allowance scheme. [83134]
Mr. Dhanda: The total amount of education maintenance allowance (EMA) payments made to students from the start of the EMA pilots in September 1999 up to the end of the financial year 2005-06, is £996.98 million.
Ergonomic Classroom Facilities
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what requirements his Department is placing on school planners to install ergonomic classroom facilities in schools under the Building Schools for the Future programme; and if he will make a statement. [83451]
Jim Knight: The Department does not place any specific requirement on school planners to install ergonomic classroom facilities in schools under the Building Schools for the Future programme, or its other capital programmes. This is a matter for local decision-making.
However, good quality design is given a high priority within Building Schools for the Future. This includes designing all classrooms to meet the ergonomic needs of all staff and pupils, including those with special needs and disabilities, by providing adequate space and appropriate furniture and equipment.
The Department has issued a number of guides on school design including one on furniture and equipment. It has also supported the development of a school furniture website which advises on ergonomic issues in schools and it ran a furniture design competition in 2002 with the Design Council to encourage innovative designs for classroom furniture. A forthcoming guide will provide advice on all aspects of designing for pupils with special needs including furniture and equipment.
Examination Marking
Mr. Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the number of newly qualified teachers marking (a) A-level and (b) AS-level papers in subjects that they have never taught; and if he will make a statement. [83606]
Jim Knight: The regulation of the examinations system is a matter for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). However, it does not collect or hold data relating to the backgrounds of the examiners who are employed by the awarding bodies to mark GCE A and AS-level scripts.
FIFA World Cup
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which matches (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department attended at the FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany in their ministerial capacity; at what cost to public funds; and with what contributions from third party organisations. [83616]
Mr. Dhanda: Ministers from the Department for Education and Skills have not attended any FIFA World Cup matches in Germany.
Fire Risk Assessments
Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of schools have trained their staff to deal with fire safety risks. [82045]
Jim Knight: We do not have this information. However we issued guidance for schools and local authorities in our Managing Schools Facilities Guide “Fire Safety”. This outlines the training that school staff should receive. See www.teachernet.gov.uk/fire.
Freedom of Information (Trust Schools)
Mr. Betts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether trust schools will be covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000. [84218]
Mr. Dhanda: As is the case with all maintained schools, the governing bodies of trust schools will be covered by the Freedom of Information Act.
Grammar Schools
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils were educated at grammar schools in each year since 1997. [84245]
Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table.
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