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Religious Schools/Studies
Mr. Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he plans to take to ensure the preservation of the ethos of religious schools when the provisions in the Education and Inspections Act 2006 which replace external advisers appointed by a school’s governing body with a schools improvement inspector appointed by the local authority come into force. [88598]
Jim Knight: We are introducing school improvement partners (SIPs) to support the accountability that local authorities have for the standards and levels of attainment in their schools. When local authorities appoint SIPs to schools we expect them to pay attention to the preferences, needs and characteristics, including religious characteristics, of individual schools and their governing bodies, and we expect SIPs to be responsive to the individual circumstances and characteristics of the schools they work with, including their religious characteristics. The national assessment for people seeking accreditation to be SIPs stresses this expectation. It is designed to withhold accreditation from anybody who might work with a school without taking account of the ethos and other features of the school. These expectations are set out clearly for local authorities and SIPs to support introduction of the SIP programme.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures his Department takes to ensure that private schools teach religious studies appropriately. [88117]
Jim Knight: All independent schools in England must be registered with my Department. All registered schools have to meet the standards set out in the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003, as amended, which cover six main areas including the quality of the education provided; the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils; and the welfare, health and safety of pupils. Schools are required to assist pupils to acquire an appreciation of and respect for their own and other cultures in a way which promotes tolerance and harmony between different cultural traditions.
Run-away Children
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the role of helplines in the provision of services for children and young people who run away; and what plans he has to extend that role. [88937]
Beverley Hughes: Helplines are one of a number of ways in which children who run away, or are thinking about running, can get help. The National Missing Person’s Helpline is one, which this year has received about £900,000 central Government funding. Other helplines available to young people in crisis, such as Connexions Direct and others run by voluntary and community organisations, do an important job advising runaways and their families.
But other sources of help and support are vital too. Children who run away need someone to talk to, but they also need help with the underlying problems that make them run. This should include prevention, mediation and other support services. The availability of such services is for local authorities to determine, according to local need. Local children’s services continue to provide the most effective and direct route to help runaways, and those at risk of running away. Government are driving forward improvements to all such services, for all children, through the Every Child Matters programme.
Recent projects have tested how best to provide responsive community-based services—including local helpline provision—within local authorities children’s services. We will disseminate the full lessons learnt from these to local authorities later this year. Future plans will be informed by these pilots, as well as by our current discussions with key stakeholders such as Children’s Society and regional and local authorities.
School Meals
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in (a) Brent East and (b) Brent (i) are entitled to and (ii) claim free school meals. [87500]
Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the following table:
| Maintained Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools( 1) : School Meal Arrangements( 2) January 2006( 3) | |||||
| Number on roll | Number of pupils taking free school meals ( 3) | Percentage taking free school meals | Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | Percentage known to be eligible for free school meals | |
| (1)
Includes middle schools as deemed (2) Includes
dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. (3)
Provisional (4) Number of pupils who took a free
school meal on the day of the census in January.
Source: Schools
Census | |||||
School Premises
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what assessment he has made of the condition of school premises; [89116]
(2) what the cost was of outstanding repairs to school buildings identified by the 2005 Asset Management Survey; and when he will publish the full results of that survey; [89117]
(3) what the value was of outstanding repairs to school buildings in each year since 2002; and what proportion of this repair work has since been carried out. [89118]
Jim Knight: Based on data supplied to the Department over recent months by local education authorities, it is estimated that schools have repair and maintenance requirements of approximately £8.8 billion. This compares with £9.0 billion and £8.8 billion shown in data received in 2001 and 2003 respectively. Costs have been updated to current prices. In addition to backlog repair work, the figures cover work needed over a five year period from the dates of the assessments from which the data are derived, including cyclical and scheduled maintenance. The cost of urgent work has reduced by approximately 30 per cent. against the data received in 2001.
Central Government capital support for investment in schools has increased from under £700 million in 1996-97 to £5.5 billion in 2005-06 and will rise further to over £8 billion by 2010-11. While reducing maintenance requirements is a long term aim, the primary objectives for funding are to raise educational standards and tackle local deprivation. A substantial proportion of capital funding is targeted at transformational programmes, such as Building Schools for the Future and the primary capital programme. Over time, these programmes will significantly reduce future maintenance requirements.
The data received over recent months, referred to above, are currently being appraised and the Department is working with authorities where necessary to secure improvements in their asset management processes. Detailed national analysis will be published on completion of the appraisal.
School Testing
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment he has made of the level of testing in schools; and if he will make a statement. [87954]
Jim Knight: The levels of testing have remained consistent for a number of years. There are three sets of national tests in the first nine years of education. This requirement for independent, objective evidence of performance is by no means excessive when set alongside the billions of pounds of public money that are invested in the education system each year.
The total number of statutory test papers taken during this time would amount to about 20.
The Key Stage 1 tests and tasks are not strictly timed and can be administered flexibly over an extended period.
The Key Stage 2 tests amount to a total of 5 hours 15 minutes spread over a week; in a key stage that covers four years, this represents about 0.14 per cent. of the available teaching time.
The Key Stage 3 tests amount to a total of 7 hours 40 minutes spread over a week; in a three-year key stage, this represents less than 0.2 per cent. of the available teaching time.
This relatively small commitment of time is vastly outweighed by the valuable information that can be provided by testing.
We believe the current level of assessment for English, maths and science is appropriate.
School Toilets
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the required toilet to (a) male and (b) female pupil ratio is in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools. [86981]
Jim Knight: To comply with the 1999 School Premises Regulations, mainstream schools should have at least one WC or urinal per 20 pupils over five years of age. Washroom facilities must be adequate, having regard to the ages, sexes, numbers of pupils and any special requirements that they may have.
Secondary Education
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the proposed reform of the secondary education system on the number of jobs in the sector. [88808]
Jim Knight: Decisions about staffing levels in schools are taken by individual governing bodies, based on the delegated funding they receive. Nothing in the Education and Inspections Bill changes this—it will still be for schools to determine their own staffing levels and structures.
Selective Mutism
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) pursuant to his answer of 13 June 2006, Official Report, columns 1101-02W, on selective mutism, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that education experts and schools are aware of the video, DVD and accompanying book on selective mutism; [88605]
(2) what steps his Department, Executive agencies, local authorities and individual schools are required to take to (a) fund and (b) provide advice and assistance in relation to selective mutism. [88732]
Mr. Dhanda: Publicising and disseminating particular resources would be a matter for the originating party, rather than the Department. However, we do operate an inclusion website http://inclusion.nqfl.gov.uk which includes information on available materials relevant to special educational needs and disability. It is open to organisations to publicise their resources through that.
As mentioned in our previous answer, the Department has not issued any recent guidance specifically on selective mutism, although it is one of a number of communication difficulties addressed in our early support publication “Speech and language difficulties”, published in 2005. This publication includes contact details for the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association (SMIRA).
It would be for individual local authorities, schools and early years settings to determine whether there was a case for developing local materials or training sessions on selective mutism.
Special Educational Needs Children
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance he has issued to ensure that local authority provision for children with special educational needs is dependent on need rather than local budgetary or resource considerations; and if he will make a statement. [87961]
Mr. Dhanda: The Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice, issued by the Secretary of State in 2001 is statutory guidance. It gives guidance to schools and local authorities on their duties under the Education Act 1996 to identify, assess and make provision for children with special educational needs. Most children with SEN are supported from within the resources available to their school. But local authorities have a duty, where necessary, to carry out statutory SEN assessments and make and maintain SEN statements specifying the provision that an individual child's special educational needs call for. Local authorities have to arrange the special educational provision required to meet the child’s needs and make available the necessary funding for that provision.
Local authorities may fund specialist support services, such as SEN specific outreach teams, in order to help schools meet children’s needs. The profile of such central services is a matter for local decision.
Special Educational Needs Schools
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many special schools for children with (a) special educational needs and (b) behavioural, emotional and social difficulties there were in each local education authority area in each year since 1997. [86012]
Jim Knight [holding answer 17 July 2006]: The available information has been placed in the House Library.
The information given in the table has been taken from two different sources. Information on numbers of maintained and non maintained special schools has been taken from Schools’ Census returns and a time series has been provided.
Sex Education
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures his Department takes to ensure that private and boarding schools teach sex education appropriately and sufficiently. [88116]
Mr. Dhanda: All independent schools in England must be registered with my Department. All registered schools have to meet the standards set out in the Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2003, as amended, which cover six main areas including the quality of the education provided; the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils; and the welfare, health and safety of pupils. The standards require all independent schools to provide personal, social and health education, which reflects the ethos and aims of the school.
Skills for Life
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the participants in the Skills for Life Strategy are (a) male and (b) female. [88244]
Phil
Hope: Between 2001 and July 2005, the Skills for Life
Strategy has helped 1,275,000 people improve their literacy, language
or numeracy skills. Figures from
2003/04, the last year for which confirmed figures are currently
available, show that 45 per cent. of Sills for Life achievements were
by males and 55 per cent. were by females. The aim of the Skills for
Life Strategy is to help all learners who may be at disadvantage in
life and at work through poor skills to improve their literacy,
language and numeracy ability so that they are better able to support
their families, contribute to community life and perform successfully
at
work.
Smacking
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will undertake (a) an assessment of and (b) public consultation upon the merits of measures to ban the smacking of children by their parents. [87807]
Mr. Dhanda: Section 58 of the Children Act 2004, which was passed by a free vote in the House of Lords, and another free vote in the Commons, removed the defence of reasonable chastisement for offences of Actual Bodily Harm or worse against children. The Government believe that this will ensure the proper protection of children without criminalising loving parents for administering a trivial smack.
During the Commons debate on the Children Bill, the Government committed itself to review the operation of section 58 of the Children Act two years after its commencement. We will be considering this during 2006-07, including consultation with interested parties.
Student Fees
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of students in England paid (a) none, (b) part and (c) all of their fees in 2005/06. [83157]
Bill Rammell: The percentage of students in England in 2004/05 making a nil, partial or full contribution to their tuition fees is given in the table:
| Percentage of students | |
| Note: 1. Data do not include those students who decide not to apply to
the SLC for any student support. 2. Data for 2005/06 will not
be available until November 2006. Source:
Student Loans Company
(SLC). | |
In 2004/05, students on full-time undergraduate courses and their families were
expected to make a contribution towards the cost of their tuition based on household income. Students from lower income backgrounds were wholly or partially exempt from paying tuition fees.
From 2006/07, no
student will need to find money up front to meet tuition fees, as they
will be eligible for a tuition fee loan of up to £3,000. In
addition, we expect around 30 per cent. of students to receive a
maximum maintenance grant of £2,700 and an HE institution
bursary of at least £300. Overall, we expect around half of all
eligible students to receive at least some maintenance grant.
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