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18 Oct 2006 : Column 1228W—continued
| Position at 31 March each year—1990-2002 | |||||
| Type of provider | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 |
| Position at 31 March each year—1990-2002 | |||||
| Type of provider | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 |
| n/a = not available. (1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 places. (2) Data source: Children’s DayCare Facilities Survey. (3) From 1999, places were counted once for each school holiday. Before 1999, places were counted once each year. | |||||
Local authorities were responsible for the registration and inspection of children’s day care facilities until these responsibilities were transferred to Ofsted in September 2001. Therefore the figures for child care places for 2003-06 are not directly comparable with the day care figures for 1987-2001. The figures for 2003-06 were derived from the Ofsted database of registered child care providers. The figures for 1987-2001 were derived from the Children’s Day Care Facilities Survey, which was discontinued in 2001. There are no figures for 2002 because the period from September 2001 to March 2003 was designated as a transitional period where Ofsted, as a by-product of its inspections, validated the actual number of individuals and organisations that were providing child care.
With the introduction of the National Day Care Standards and the transfer of responsibilities for registration and inspection of child care providers from local authority social service departments to Ofsted in September 2001, child care places were classified according to the type of day care provided: full day care, sessional day care, childminder, out of school day care or crèche day care. Ofsted have produced figures
based on this classification on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published on 27 July 2006 in their report “Registered Childcare Providers and Places, 30 June 2006”, which is available on their website, www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications.
Up until March 2001, child care providers were classified according to the type of provider: day nurseries, playgroups and pre-schools, childminders, out of school clubs and holiday schemes. Figures based on this classification were published in a series of statistical bulletins, which are available from the Department’s website, www.dfes.gov.uk/statistics.
Correspondence
Sir Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he will reply to the letter of 27 June 2006 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton with regard to Dr. S. Ala-ud-Din. [92058]
Bill Rammell: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State replied to the right hon. Member’s letter on 31 July.
Departmental Expenditure
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department has spent on organising and hosting conferences in the last 12 months. [93102]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department organises a significant number of events for different target audiences and purposes each year, ranging from small scale workshops to introduce practitioners to new procedures or initiatives, to larger scale events to promote policy initiatives or share good practice.
Records of events organised or sponsored by the Department are not held centrally and the information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Staff
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of (a) staff and (b) new staff employed since April 2005 in (i) his Department and (ii) each of the agencies for which he has responsibility is recorded as disabled. [92184]
Mr. Dhanda: The latest published information on disability status is available via the Cabinet Office website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/publications/xls/report_2005/table_p.xls
Historic published data on the disabled status of civil servants are available from the Cabinet Office website at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/statistics/reports/index.asp
The number of new staff employed since April 2005 in my Department who have declared a disability is less than five, and therefore the proportion is unavailable.
Declaration of a disability is voluntary.
Dyslexia
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the total expenditure on children with dyslexia in Somerset was in each of the last five years. [93574]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department does not collect the information in the way it has been requested. However, the following table gives a breakdown of budgeted net expenditure on the provision of education for children with special educational needs in Somerset since 2002-03.
| Budgeted net expenditure on the provision of education for children with special educational( 1,2) needs in Somerset since 2002-03 | |||||
| Local authority | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 |
| (1) The data is drawn from local authorities Section 52 Budget Statements (Tables 1 and 2) submitted to the DfES. (2 )Includes planned expenditure on the provision for pupils with statements and the provision for non-statemented pupils with SEN, support for inclusion, inter authority recoupment, fees for pupils at independent special schools and abroad, educational psychology service, local authority functions in relation to child protection, therapies and other health related services, parent partnership, guidance and information, the monitoring of SEN provision and inclusion administration, assessment and co-ordination. Also included is the funding delegated to primary and secondary schools identified as “notional SEN” and the individual schools budget (ISB) for special schools. Notes: 1. The ISB for special schools will include some general education costs for pupils with SEN in addition to those costs specifically for SEN while the figures recorded against “notional SEN” are only indicative of the amount that might by spent by schools on SEN and, from 2004-05 onwards, “notional SEN” delegated to nursery schools was reported on Section 52 for the first time. In 2005-06, local authorities also budgeted for SEN transport expenditure but this is not included in the table as figures are not available prior to 2005-06. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds and may not sum due to rounding. Cash terms figures as reported by the local authority as at 11 October 2006. 3. 2006-07 data is provisional and is subject to change by the local authority. | |||||
Language Colleges
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what action he has taken to prevent the setting up of bogus language colleges to enable false applications to be granted for entry into the UK. [83088]
Mr. Byrne: I have been asked to reply.
Home Office strategies include use of the Register of Education and Training Providers owned by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), introduction of the Student Task Force to coordinate intelligence and visits to suspect institutions and changes to the Immigration Rules to prevent students remaining in the UK for long periods on low level short
courses or using the student route to remain in the UK after their leave in another temporary capacity has expired.
The DfES Register is a register of education and training providers and any education provider assessed as non-bona fide for the purposes of the rules is removed from the DfES Register. An overseas student will not be granted leave to enter or remain in the UK unless the education provider is included on the DfES Register.
Where the Student Task Force identifies a college that does not meet the bona fide requirements for the purposes of the Immigration Rules it requests the DfES to remove that college from its Register.
In the future, the introduction of the points-based system for managing migration into the UK will make the student route more robust by putting sponsorship and compliance at the heart of our processes. Under the PBS, a new register of education sponsors, building on the DfES Register, will apply more stringent requirements to educational institutions such as the responsibility to report non-attendance and non-enrolment and to cooperate with compliance visits. We will also require all private institutions to be accredited by an independent body to ensure that only legitimate institutions providing quality education enter on the new register. The Home Office and DfES are currently working on which bodies will be suitable for these purposes.
Part-time Students
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made with the Higher Education Funding Council for England review of teaching (a) funding and (b) support for institutions with a large number of part-time students. [94201]
Bill Rammell: We are continuing to discuss these matters with the funding council, which has been conducting a further round of public consultation with the higher education sector. I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 9 February 2006, Official Report, column 1340W.
Science and Technology
Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps the Government is taking to encourage more young people to study science and technology to A-Level and degree level. [92006]
Jim Knight: The Government published ‘Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014: Next Steps in March 2006’. This sets out the Government’s ambition to create an education and training environment that delivers the best in science teaching and learning and increase the numbers of young people taking A levels in science subjects.
The Government are putting in place a range of specific activities to encourage more young people to study science at A Level and beyond including:
encouraging schools to offer separate science GCSEs; physics, chemistry and biology to all pupils who could benefit from it,
especially higher achieving pupils with support through collaborative arrangements with specialist science colleges; FE colleges and partnerships with independent schools;
a pilot of 250 after school science clubs to offer an engaging and stretching programme of activities to Key Stage 3 pupils with interest and potential in science;
introducing a statutory entitlement to a course of study leading to two science GCSEs. The intention is that at least 80 per cent. of young people will take at least two science GCSEs;
working with key stakeholders to develop ways to improve the guidance provided to young people and their parents and teachers of the benefits of studying
science and the career opportunities available to those with science, engineering and mathematics degrees and other technology qualifications;
developing and piloting an accredited diploma to give science teachers without an initial specialism in physics and chemistry the subject knowledge and pedagogy they need to teach these subjects effectively;
improving the quality of teaching by ensuring all science teachers have access to good quality continuing professional development through the network of Science Learning Centres which we fund jointly with the Wellcome Trust;
providing additional incentives to recruit more high quality science graduates into science teaching.
SEN Tribunals
Mr. Liddell-Grainger: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many special educational needs tribunals have been heard in Somerset in the last five years; [93576]
(2) what the outcome was of each court case instituted in Somerset by (a) Somerset county council and (b) parents to obtain money for help with (i) dyslexia and (ii) other special educational needs in the last five years; [93577]
(3) how much has been allocated by his Department to Somerset for help with (a) dyslexia and (b) special needs in 2006-07; [93578]
(4) how many teachers who are qualified to teach dyslexic children there are in West Somerset; and where they are based. [93579]
(5) what criteria are applied to the allocation of money provided for help with dyslexia; [93580]
(6) how many children in Somerset have received help with dyslexia in the last five years, broken down by age group and school. [93581]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested has been placed in the House Libraries.
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