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26 Oct 2006 : Column 2051W—continued
Rating System
David Simpson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the
pilot arrangement announced on 22 July 2005 between the Valuation and Lands Agency and Belfast City Council to improve rating service and cut out unnecessary administration and inspections by officials of new and altered properties; and if he will make a statement. [96793]
Mr. Hanson: The pilot announced in July 2005 started in April 2005 when the Valuation and Lands Agency (VLA) entered into a joint project with Belfast city council (Building Control) for the timely provision by the council of full survey details on all changes to properties (including new builds). In Belfast this project has significantly reduced the average time involvement by VLA and increased productivity almost threefold. Although, no precise figures are yet available, valuations are also being completed in a timelier manner.
VLA are seeking to extend the project to include Derry and Lisburn city councils in 2006 and eventually, by agreement, to all councils.
To that end, VLA is in the process of securing the temporary secondment of the Belfast city council manager to lead the project and assist in implementing the process throughout Northern Ireland.
Western Education and Library Board
Mark Durkan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the boundaries are of the land under the control of the Western Education and Library Board near Chapel Road primary school in Derry. [96666]
Maria Eagle: The Western Education and Library Board does not own any land in the immediate vicinity of Chapel Road primary school. The nearest board owned property is Lisneal college in Irish street, which is approximately 700m from the primary school and totals 4.89 hectares.
Education and Skills
Adult Education
Andrew Stunell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received about Learning and Skills Council funding for adult education courses in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [95050]
Bill Rammell: Our records for the last 12 months indicate that we have received 506 pieces of correspondence on a range of FE funding issues including funding for adult education courses. This includes 237 letters from MPs which include correspondence forwarded from FE college principals and in addition to these letters we have received 14 letters directly from FE college principles on FE funding issues.
Both I and my colleagues have regular meetings with providers and stakeholders and MPs including representative organisations such as the Association of Colleges and the Association of Learning Providers about adult education.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in pupil referral units have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; and if he will make a statement. [96659]
Mr. Dhanda: Information on the number of pupils by type of need is not collected from pupil referral units. However, information on the number of pupils with any special educational needs is collected and is shown in the table.
| Pupil referral units: number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), January 2006, England | |||
| Pupils on roll( 1) | Number of pupils( 1) | Percentage of pupils | |
| (1) Excludes dually registered pupils. Includes pupils with other providers. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Schools’ Census. | |||
ContinYou
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the charitable company ContinYou is expected to make its database of supplementary schools available for inspection; what definition ContinYou uses to decide whether an organisation is a supplementary school; which supplementary schools in London have been involved with ContinYou’s quality assessment pilot scheme; and whether his Department plans to expand the quality assessment as a way of encouraging supplementary schools to take part in statutory projects. [94379]
Jim Knight [holding answer 16 October 2006]: ContinYou currently has a small database of supplementary schools and lead contacts. It numbers about 800 separate entries. There are plans to develop the database both in terms of its size and functionality to ensure that the future database contains a range of core data that can be made available on-line and that enables users to search for schools by location, type, and community served.
ContinYou deem an organisation to be a supplementary school when it provides taught lessons outside of school hours that supplement or complement its students' mainstream education. Those lessons can be additional tuition on national curriculum subjects (and usually Maths, English, Science and ICT), but can also include community language lessons and cultural and heritage studies. Some supplementary schools may also offer religious tuition. Others offer a much wider range of activities including sports and leisure, creative activities, trips and excursions, and parental learning and support.
The following supplementary schools were involved in piloting the Quality Framework for Supplementary
Schools. The pilot included 14 schools from 6 local authorities. The schools were:
Asian Resource Centre (Greenwich)
Hindu Youth Association (Greenwich)
Somali and Somaliland Lewisham Community (Lewisham)
British Somali Community—South Camden Community Supplementary School (Camden)
Esforal (Camden)
Mandela Supplementary School (Camden)
Moroccan Supplementary School (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea)
Azza Supplementary School (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea)
Somali Mothers and Children’s Organisation Supplementary School (Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea)
Suleymaniye Turkish Boarding School (Hackney)
Chinese Independent School of Tower Hamlets (Tower Hamlets)
Culloden Bangladeshi Parents Association (Tower Hamlets)
Stepney Dynamic Youth (Tower Hamlets)
Stifford TJRS-TRA Community Centre (Tower Hamlets)
The Department welcomes the development of the Quality Framework for Supplementary Schools as a way of supporting supplementary schools to improve their teaching and practices, of recognising their effort and achievements, and of encouraging both supplementary and mainstream schools to work together more effectively. ContinYou is currently considering how it can develop its work around the Quality Framework for Supplementary Schools.
Departmental Travel
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent by his Department on (a) chartering aircraft and (b) non-scheduled air travel in each of the last five years. [96220]
Mr. Dhanda: According to our records my Department spent £22,000 on chartering private aircraft in 2003 with no expenditure in any of the other years.
We have no record of any expenditure on non-scheduled air travel for the period in question.
In respect of overseas travel by Cabinet Ministers, since 1999 the Government have published an annual list of all visits overseas undertaken by Cabinet Ministers costing £500 or more during each financial year. Where non-scheduled aircraft are used this is shown in the list. Information for 2005/06 was published on 24 July 2006. Copies of the lists are available in the Library for the reference of Members.
All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the ministerial code and travel by Ministers, copies of which are available in the Library for the reference of Members. All official travel is undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the civil service management code, a copy of which is also available in the Library for the reference of Members.
Early Years Education
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many free early years education places have been available in (a) Suffolk, (b) Norfolk, (c) Essex and (d) Cambridgeshire in each year since 1997. [95460]
Beverley Hughes:
The available information on the number of part-time funded places filled by three and
four year olds in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire local authority areas is shown in the following tables.
Since April 2004 all three and four year olds have been entitled to a free, good quality, early education place consisting of 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. This will be extended to 15 hours a week by 2010 and by that time, parents who wish to do so will also be able to access the free entitlement flexibly across a minimum of three days.
| Number of part time funded places( 1 ,2 ) filled by three and four year olds, local authority: Suffolk | ||||||
| Part-time funded places filled by 3 year olds | Part-time funded places filled by 4 year olds | |||||
| Position in January each year | Maintained nursery and primary schools( 3) | Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers | Total 3 year olds | Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4) | Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers | Total 4 year olds |
| (1 )A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child. (2 )Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate. (3 )Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools’ Census. (4 )Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools’ Census. (5 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise. (6 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Nursery Education Grant data collection exercise. (7 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census supplementary data collection exercise and the Annual Schools’ Census. (8 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31st December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools’ Census. (9 )Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools’ Census. | ||||||
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