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17 July 2006 : Column 176W—continued
Learning and Skills Council
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of Learning and Skills Council funded learners aged over 19 years are studying for a (a) level 1, (b) level 2, (c) level 3, (d) level 4 and (e) other qualifications; and what proportion are not studying for a qualification. [81803]
Bill Rammell: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funds learning which is (a) for externally accredited qualifications, (b) for qualifications which are not externally accredited (e.g. college certificated) and (c) non-qualification based.
It is possible to distinguish learning programmes by level—even where that learning is non-qualification based. That is shown in the table which gives the number (in thousands) and proportion of learners aged 19 and over on LSC funded Further Education (FE), Work Based Learning (WBL) and Adult and Community Learning (ACL —now know as personal and community development learning (PCDL)) provision in 2004-05.
| Highest qualification level of learner | WBL learners (thousand) | WBL (percentage) | FE learners (thousand) | FE (percentage) | ACL learners (thousand) | ACL (percentage) |
However, it is not possible to fully distinguish between qualification and non-qualification based learning across all LSC funded learning. Non-accredited learning is currently funded mainly through safeguard personal and community development funding (PCDL), but also within WBL and FE. In WBL, Entry to Employment (a programme of other training and life skills for learners not in employment) has been introduced in response to the Cassells Review of Modern Apprenticeships. Funding for internally certificated learning is also available through FE institutions. Additionally, courses co-financed with European funding are not necessarily qualification based.
However, in 2004-05 it is estimated that 39 per cent. of FE learners and 98 per cent. of PCDL learners were taking non-externally accredited courses (which could be either qualifications which are not externally accredited or non-qualification based).
Missing Children
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children born abroad have gone missing from local authority care in each of the last three years. [82617]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 5 July 2006]: Information about the numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have been looked after from 2002 to 2005 and the numbers of these who have gone missing from their agreed care placement for more than 24 hours is shown in the following table.
| Number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) looked after and number with at least one missing placement in the years ending 31 March 2003-05( 1,2) | ||
| Number of UASC looked after | Number with at least one missing placement( 1) | |
| (1) A ‘missing’ placement is defined as a child being absent from their agreed placement for over 24 hours. (2) Children looked after who went missing more than once in the years ending 31 March 2003 until 2005 were only counted once. Notes: 1. Figures exclude any children whose asylum seeking status ceased before going missing. 2. For the purpose of preserving confidentiality, national figures have been rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 and to the nearest 10 otherwise. | ||
Local authorities may also be responsible for looking after other foreign nationals from time to time. Data about this group of children, in terms of missing from placement data by foreign country of birth, are not collected centrally.
Outdoor Learning
Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) when he expects to publish guidance for schools on safety and education outside the classroom; [84748]
(2) what recent discussions his Department has had with teaching unions about outdoor learning and pupil safety. [84749]
Mr. Dhanda: We expect to publish the Education Outside the Classroom Manifesto in the new school term. It will contain information about good safety management, and references to other relevant documents. A number of teaching unions responded to the public consultation on the draft vision and aims for the Education Outside the Classroom Manifesto that ran from November 2005 to February 2006. We will consult them further on next steps in relation to safety guidance once the manifesto is published.
Out-of-school Clubs
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on out-of-school clubs as part of the National Childcare Strategy in each year since 1997; how many clubs received funding in each year; how often children attended such clubs in each year; and if he will make a statement. [85467]
Beverley Hughes: As part of the National Childcare Strategy, the Department has made funding available to local authorities since 1999 for childcare provision of a range of types, including out-of-school clubs. However, information on expenditure specifically for out-of-school clubs, or attendance at such clubs, is not held centrally.
Overseas Students
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students from (a) mainland China, (b) Hong Kong, (c) Macao, (d) Taiwan and (e) Singapore are estimated to be studying in the United Kingdom. [84701]
Bill Rammell: The latest available information is given in the table:
| Students from Selected Countries( 1) Enrolled at UK Higher Education Institutions, 2004/05 | |
| Country | Number |
| (1) Refers to the country of the student's permanent or home address prior to entry to the programme of study. Notes: 1. Figures are on a HESA Standard Registration Population basis. 2. Figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) student record data. | |
Parliamentary Questions
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many parliamentary questions tabled to his Department were awaiting a reply on 10 July 2006; which of those had been waiting longer than (a) two and (b) three weeks for a reply; and what the reason for the delay was in each case. [85203]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department's parliamentary question tracking system is unable to break down the data as requested. The answer could be supplied only at a disproportionate cost.
Departments aim to ensure that Members receive a substantive response to their named day question on the named day, and endeavour to answer ordinary written questions within a working week of being tabled.
Pathfinder Grants
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the value of Government pathfinder grants offered to Greater London local authorities was in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005, broken down by local authority. [84376]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the value of significant Government pathfinder grants offered to Greater London authorities by the DfES in 2004 and 2005. In some cases resource was allocated over two years and separate figures for the two years are not available.
| Pathfinder grants made available to Greater London authorities by DfES in 2004-05 and 2005-06( 1) | ||||||
| £ | ||||||
| Enterprise learning pathfinders( 2) | Key stage 2 language pathfinders( 2) | 15-19 pathfinders( 3) (academic year) | Building schools for the future pathfinders( 4) | Early support pathfinders | ||
| Local authority | 2004-05 | 2004-05 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2005-06 | 2004-06 |
| (1) No money was paid out for diversity pathfinders in either year. (2) Pathfinder ended in 2004-05. (3) Partly paid through Learning and Skills Council. (4) Pathfinder began in 2005-06. Notes: 1. Includes £116 million of PFI credits. 2. Includes £58 million of PFI credits. | ||||||
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