| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
23 Oct 2006 : Column 1578W—continued
Red Box Website
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether his Department has issued any guidance on the use of the Government's Red Box website. [94470]
Jim Knight: The Department for Education and Skills has not issued specific guidance on the use of the Red Box website. DfES has issued “Financial Capability through Personal Finance Education: Guidance for Schools” which complements the aims of the Red Box website to improve young people's understanding of finance.
SATs Results
Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of primary school children have obtained basic (a) literacy and (b) numeracy skills in each year since the introduction of SATs. [93759]
Jim Knight: The number and proportion of pupils achieving level 4 (the target level) or above in the key stage 2 national curriculum tests in each year since 1995 are shown in the following table.
| English | Mathematics | |||
| Number of pupils achieving level 4 or above( 1) (Thousand) | Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above( 2) | Number of pupils achieving level 4 or above( 1) (Thousand) | Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above( 2) | |
| (1) Figures are for England only, and are expressed in thousands rounded to the nearest hundred. (2) The denominator for the calculation of the percentage of pupils achieving the expected level in each subject is all pupils eligible for the test in that subject. This includes pupils who were absent from the test, working below the level of the test or disapplied from/unable to access the test. Eligible pupils in independent schools who opted to participate in the tests are also included. (3) 2006 figures are provisional. Revised figures will be published in December 2006. Figures for all other years are based on final data. | ||||
School Admissions
Mr. Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of schools which would be affected if the draft Code proposing changes to the admissions criteria in relation to the deletion of the siblings criterion is implemented in February 2007. [94971]
Jim Knight:
The draft Code proposes to rule out the use of the sibling oversubscription criterion at all
164 grammar schools and to restrict its use in the 40 schools that use selection by ability or aptitude for more than 10 per cent. of their intake under section 100 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, unless the school can show exceptional circumstances to justify it.
We do not have information on how many of these 204 schools currently use the sibling criterion, and therefore are unable to say how many will be affected by the proposed changes. The criterion is acceptable at all other schools, including those that admit 10 per cent. or less by selection on aptitude.
School Health Services
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what criteria are used by his Department to determine whether a school has adequately consulted parents on the nature and scope of health services available in the school; and if he will make a statement. [95063]
Jim Knight: The nature and scope of health services available in a school are for the school governing body to decide. Where schools are developing links with health as part of extended services, the Education Act 2002 requires them to consult widely before putting services in place. The Department for Education and Skills has provided a toolkit to local authorities on how best to consult communities when developing extended services, but there are no rigid national criteria for how consultation should take place.
School Playing Fields
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many applications his Department has received under Schedule 22 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 to sell school playing fields; and how many such applications have been (a) accepted and (b) refused. [94665]
Jim Knight: Schedule 22 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA) requires the governing or foundation body of a voluntary or foundation school to obtain the Secretary of State's consent before disposing of any land that has been provided or enhanced at public expense. Any such application that involves a school playing field will be assessed against the same criteria as playing field applications made by local authorities under Section 77 of the SSFA.
Since October 1998, there have been 37 applications under Schedule 22 to the SSFA that involve the disposal of a school playing field. Of these, 27 have been approved, two have been rejected and eight were withdrawn. Prior to 1998 only grant maintained schools needed to obtain the Secretary of State's consent before disposing of any land, including playing fields.
Science Teachers
Sandra Gidley:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of (a) biology, (b) physics and (c) chemistry
teachers which will need to be recruited to fulfil the pledge of allowing pupils to choose to study individual sciences at GCSE level. [93970]
Jim Knight [holding answer 16 October 2006]: Science teachers are trained to teach across the sciences. We continue to set recruitment targets designed to ensure a sufficient supply of science teachers to meet pupils’ and schools’ needs. We will be taking action to increase the proportion of teachers with an initial specialism in physics to 25 per cent. and chemistry to 31 per cent. by 2014. We are also developing a diploma to improve teachers’ ability to teach physics and chemistry.
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many more (a) biology, (b) physics and (c) chemistry teachers he estimates will need to be recruited to fulfil the pledge of allowing pupils the choice to study individual sciences at GCSE. [94138]
Jim Knight: Science teachers are trained to teach across the sciences. We continue to set recruitment targets designed to ensure a sufficient supply of science teachers to meet pupils’ and schools’ needs. We will be taking action to increase the proportion of teachers with an initial specialism in physics to 25 per cent. and chemistry to 31 per cent. by 2014. We are also developing a diploma to improve teachers’ ability to teach physics and chemistry.
Sex Education
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will amend the guidance produced by his Department to allow parents to examine the materials used in their child’s sex education classes; and if he will make a statement; [95061]
(2) what recent representations he has received from (a) hon. Members and (b) members of the public about amending his Department’s guidance on sex education to allow parents to examine the materials used in their child’s sex education classes; and if he will make a statement. [95062]
Mr. Dhanda: All schools are required by law to have regard to the Department’s guidance on “Sex and Relationship Education” (2000). The guidance advises governors and head teachers to discuss with parents and take on board any concerns raised on sensitive materials to be used within the classroom. It also places a responsibility on schools to protect pupils from inappropriate teaching and materials. Additionally, all schools are required by law to have an up-to-date policy on sex and relationship education available to parents for inspection and this would normally reference key teaching resources.
The Department regularly receives correspondence from hon. Members and members of the public on sex and relationship education in schools.
There are no plans to amend the current guidance to schools on sex and relationship education.
Sprinklers
Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what estimate he has made of the cost of fitting sprinklers in all new school buildings in England; [94297]
(2) what the cost was of (a) repairing and (b) rebuilding school buildings damaged by fire in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [94298]
Jim Knight [holding answer 16 October2006]: Because we do not have reliable figures for the cost of installing sprinklers in schools, we commissioned consultants to carry out a study to establish them. Their survey covers a minimum of 20 primary and secondary schools, and is analysing both installation costs and maintenance costs. It commenced in July and should be completed later this month. We will include data from the study in the final draft of our new guide on fire safety, building bulletin 100 (BB 100), “Designing and Managing Against the Risk of Fire in Schools”, which we expect to publish early next year. The most recent figures we have on school fires from the Department for Communities and Local Government are for 2000 to 2004. These cover school fires in England and Wales.
| Number of fires | Total cost (£ million) | |
The costs are rounded to the nearest million and are derived from the (then) ODPM publication “Economic Cost of Fire, estimates for 2004”. They cover property damage and the costs of the fire and rescue services attending the fires.
Student Finance
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of students who applied for (a) student loans and (b) grants from Suffolk Local Education Authority for the 2006-07 academic year received them in time for the start of that year; and what the equivalent figures were in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 academic years. [95461]
Bill Rammell: By 16 September 2006, Suffolk local authority had received 9,569 student finance applications, of which 91 per cent. had been processed to a point at which loan and grant payments could be released. On the same date in 2005, 68 per cent. of Suffolk's applications had been processed to the same stage and 59 per cent. processed to the same stage in 2004. Students submit one application only for their full student finance entitlement; therefore performance statistics do not distinguish between loans and grants.
Teacher Training
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students have taken up initial teacher training courses in each of the last two years. [94739]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 October 2006]: The number of undergraduate and postgraduate students recruited into initial teacher training (ITT) courses in England for the academic years 2004/05 and 2005/06 were 34,520 and 33,830 respectively. These numbers included those in the fast track scheme.
In addition to the number of entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) courses given above, 7,460 students started employment-based teacher training routes in 2004/05 and 4,510 as at the autumn term in 2005/06.
Teachers' Pensions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual savings would be from increasing the employee contribution rate of the teachers' pension scheme by 1 per cent.; and if he will make a statement. [93548]
Jim Knight: The contribution rate currently paid by members of the Teachers' Pension Scheme (IPS) is 6 per cent. of salary. 1 per cent. of salary would equate to some £205 million in this financial year.
From 1 January 2007, the IPS members' contribution rate will increase to 6.4 per cent. of salary. This is part of a package of IPS reforms that will include a normal pension age of 65 for new entrants and an agreement on an equal sharing of future cost pressures between members and employers, subject to a cap of 14 per cent. on the contribution paid by employers from the 2008 scheme valuation onwards. The overall package of reform, together with the agreement on cost sharing, will ensure the continuing financial sustainability of the TPS.
Teachers/Teaching Assistants
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of teachers in primary schools who speak (a) Urdu and (b) other languages used by children of a Pakistani and Kashmiri background. [95072]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 October 2006]: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) teachers and (b) teaching assistants are employed in (i) the West Midlands and (ii) Coventry. [94738]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 October 2006]: The following table shows the full-time equivalent number of teachers and teaching assistants employed in local authority maintained schools in the West Midlands and Coventry in January 2006.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |