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7 Dec 2006 : Column 624W—continued


Higher Education

Jon Cruddas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students participated in higher education in each year since 1995, broken down by socio-economic category. [107376]


7 Dec 2006 : Column 625W

Bill Rammell: The latest available information is given in the following tables. Final figures for 2006 entry will be available in January 2007. The latest provisional figures for 2006 entry show that, as at mid- October 2006, the proportion of English domiciled acceptances from the lower socio-economic groups was slightly up compared to the corresponding point for 2005 entry (31.7 per cent. of acceptances are from the bottom four socio-economic groups this year, compared to 31.4 per cent. at this point last year).

The figures are taken from data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)
7 Dec 2006 : Column 626W
which are limited to students who apply to full-time first degree courses via the UCAS application system. The figures do not therefore cover part-time students nor those full-time students who apply directly to higher education institutions.

The socio-economic classification was introduced in 2002/03 to replace the social class categories, and so the two sets of data in these tables are not directly comparable.

Accepted applicants to UK higher education institutions by social class for years of entry 1995-2001
Year of entry
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001

Social class

I Professional

38,719

39,294

39,644

38,510

38,864

38,841

39,748

II Intermediate

103,404

104,956

117,360

115,615

115,667

117,675

120,831

HIM Skilled-non manual

30,271

31,301

37,333

35,610

36,286

37,778

38,774

HIM Skilled-manual

42,541

40,919

44,804

44,207

44,474

44,415

48,412

IV Partly skilled

19,780

19,852

23,507

22,692

23,097

24,152

23,114

V Unskilled

5,039

4,900

5,620

5,329

5,538

5,535

5,604

Total known

239,754

241,222

268,268

261,963

263,926

268,396

276,483

X Unknown

25,782

27,067

35,050

36,257

39,139

40,322

48,989

Total

265,536

268,289

303,318

298,220

303,065

308,718

325,472

Proportion of students with known social background

1 — IIIN (percentage)

71.9

72.8

72.4

72.4

72.3

72.4

72.1

IIIM-V (percentage)

28.1

27.2

27.6

27.6

27.7

27.6

27.9

Source:
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)

Accepted applicants to UK higher education institutions by socio-economic—Status for years of entry 2002-05
Year of entry
2002 2003 2004 2005

Socio-economic status (NS-SEC)

1. Higher managerial and professional occupations

61,419

59,472

59,679

59,670

2. Lower managerial and professional occupations

83,476

83,113

84,628

87,107

3. Intermediate occupations

42,112

40,576

40,790

42,222

4. Small employers and own account workers

20,056

19,992

19,881

20,668

5. Lower supervisory and technical occupations

12,830

13,457

13,114

13,454

6. Semi-routine occupations

34,647

35,254

35,516

38,866

7. Routine occupations

15,855

15,183

15,199

16,062

Total known

270,395

267,047

268,807

278,049

8. Unknown

61,330

66,895

65,488

82,195

Total

331,725

333,942

334,295

360,244

Proportion of students with known social background

1-3 (percentage)

69.2

68.6

68.9

68.0

4-7 (percentage

30.8

31.4

31.1

32.0

Source:
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)

National Identity Register

Mr. Francois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the Information Sharing Index will be compatible with the National Identity Register. [104652]

Beverley Hughes: There are no operational dependencies between plans for implementation of the information sharing index and for the National Identity Register (NIR) that will underpin the National Identity Scheme for those aged 16 years and over. The objectives of the index are quite distinct from the objectives of the NIR.

The purpose of the index is to support local agencies in their duties to co-operate to promote the well-being of children, and to safeguard them and promote their welfare, as set down in Sections 10 and 11 of the Children Act 2004 and in the safeguarding duty for schools and colleges in Section 175 of the Education Act 2002. The data to be held about children on the index are clearly specified and limited by Section 12 of the Children Act 2004 and in draft regulations, on which we are currently consulting. This consultation will close on 14 December 2006.

Nursery Education

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many mainstream nursery providers there were in England in (a) 1995 and (b) 2005. [104496]

Beverley Hughes: The available information on child care providers is shown in Tables 1 and 2.


7 Dec 2006 : Column 627W
Table 1: Number ( 1,2) of registered child care providers for children under eight years of age by type of care—England
Type of care Position at 31 March 2005

Full day care

12,100

Sessional day care

10,200

Childminders

70,200

Out of school day care

9,700

Creche day care

2,500

(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100.
(2) Data Source:
Ofsted

Table 2: Number ( 1,2) of day care providers for children under eight years of age by type of provider—England
Type of provider Position at 31 March 1995

Day nurseries

5,400

Playgroups and pre-schools

16,900

Childminders

97,100

Out of school clubs

1,600

Holiday schemes

4,200

(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100.
(2) Data Source:
Children’s Day Care Facilities Survey.

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. The figures for 2005 were derived from the Ofsted database of registered child care providers. The figures for 1995 were derived from the Children’s Day Care Facilities Survey, which was discontinued in 2001. Therefore the figures for child care providers for 2005 are not directly comparable with the day care figures for 1995.

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 creche day care. Ofsted have produced figures based on this classification on a quarterly basis from March 2003. Their latest figures were published in their report “Registered Childcare Providers and Places, September 2006”, which is available on their website:

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:


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