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19 Dec 2006 : Column 1878W—continued
Higher Education
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the participation rate was of 18 to 24-year-olds in higher education in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) each Government office region in each of the last 10 years. [110364]
Bill Rammell: The main measure for tracking progress on increasing participation is currently the higher education initial participation rate (HEIPR). This is the sum of the HE initial participation rates for individual ages between 17 and 30 inclusive. It covers English-domiciled first-time entrants to HE courses, which are expected to last for at least six months, at UK higher education institutions and English further education colleges, and who remain on their course for at least six months. The initial participation rates for18 to 24-year-olds can be derived from the HEIPR and the figures are shown in the table:
| HE initial participation rate for 18 to 24-year-olds | |
| Percentage | |
| Note: The HEIPR is usually published to the nearest integer, but the figures are included to one decimal place to inform comparisons over time. | |
The HEIPR is only available for English-domiciled students, and it is not broken down by smaller areas.
The latest available figures on participation by local areas were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in January 2005 in “Young participation in higher education” which is available from the HEFCE website at http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2005/05_03/. The HEFCE report shows participation rates for young people who enter higher education aged 18 or 19 disaggregated by parliamentary constituency, local education authority (LEA) and Government office region for the years 1997 to 2000.
Figures taken from this report for the Government office regions, together with the comparable figure for England, are shown in the table.
| Young participation rate (YPR (A)) | ||||
| Percentage | ||||
| Year cohort aged 18 in: | ||||
| Government office region/country | 1997 | 1988 | 1999 | 2000 |
| Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England. | ||||
Key Stages
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what skills he expects pupils to have after completing key stages (a) one, (b) two, (c) three and (d) four; and how the achievement of those skills is monitored. [104448]
Jim Knight: At the end of each key stage, pupil performance is measured against National Curriculum ‘level descriptions’ of increasing difficulty, which cover the knowledge, skills and understanding they should have acquired in each curriculum subject.
In the core subjects, attainment is monitored using statutory tests and teacher assessments at the end of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3.
| National curriculum levels measure the pupil's progress in each subject year-by-year | |||
| Key Stage 1 (ages 5-7) | Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) | Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14) | |
| (1 )During the key stage most children will work within this range of levels (2 )By the end of the key stage, most children will reach this level Note: National Curriculum levels are not used for assessment at KeyStage 4 | |||
There are no tests in the foundation subjects, but we do expect teachers to provide an assessment for these subjects. The Department monitors attainment at the end of Key Stage 3 through teacher assessment.
At the end of Key Stage 4 there is a requirement on schools to enter pupils for qualifications for which they have been prepared. In the majority of cases this is GCSE.
Achievement at the end of Key Stage 4 is reported nationally each year in the Achievement and Attainment Tables.
Learning and Skills Council
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the chief executive of the Learning and Skills Council is paid; and who appointed him. [110139]
Bill Rammell: Mark Haysom was appointed as chief executive by the National Council of the Learning and Skills Council. His basic salary for the year ended March 2006 was £204,000, as reported in the LSC's Annual Report and Accounts.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people are employed by the Learning and Skills Council; and what its expenditure on administration was in (a) 2004 and (b) 2005. [110141]
Bill Rammell: In November 2006 the total LSC work force stood at 3,589 staff, including temporary staff.
Expenditure on administration was £229.5 million in the year ended 31 March 2004 and £226 million in the year ended 31 March 2005. The administration spend fell to £212.5 million in year ended 31 March 2006.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he last met the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council; and what the subjects of discussion were. [110142]
Bill Rammell: I have regular meetings with Mark Haysom, the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council, as part of the overall accountability and performance framework. These include regular formal review meetings. Our most recent review meeting took place on 6 December, and we considered a range of subjects including the review of skills undertaken by Lord Leitch; progress on our post-16 learning targets and on key programmes such as Train to Gain.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many times he overruled Learning and Skills Council decisions on funding projects in 2005. [110212]
Bill Rammell: None. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State does not have the power to overrule the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) on individual funding decisions. Section 25 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 gives the Secretary of State the power to give directions to the LSC but such directions may not concern LSC decisions about the provision of financial resources in respect of activities carried on by a particular person or persons.
Management Consultants
Mr. Boris Johnson:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much has been spent on consultants over the last 12 months in relation to (a) the restructuring of the Learning and Skills Council,
(b) the Foster report, (c) departmental restructuring and (d) introduction of vocational diplomas. [105517]
Mr. Dhanda: The amounts spent on consultants over the last 12 months in relation to (a) the restructuring of the Learning and Skills Council, (b) the Foster report, (c) departmental restructuring and (d) introduction of vocational diplomas are as follows:
(a) Nil;
(b) £1,000;
(c) A definitive answer could be provided only at disproportionate cost. We do know, however, that £710,000 has been spent on departmental restructuring;
(d) £130,225. (£45,866 of this amount relates to work on all 14-19 policies including the introduction of vocational diplomas).
Nursery Staff
Mr. Wills: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the average salary of nursery workers in each year since 2003-04. [107358]
Beverley Hughes: No annual estimate of the average salary of nursery workers has been made since 2003-04. The following table though does show information taken from the most recent survey of childcare and early years providers. It compares information for 2005 with that from the previous survey in 2003.
| Average pay rates and weekly hours worked for all full day care staff | ||
| 2005 | 2003 | |
| Source: 2005 Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey conducted for the DfES by BMRB Social Research | ||
Ofsted Inspections
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the quality of Ofsted inspections; and how many inspections were adjudged to be (a) below and (b) above the expected standard in the last period for which figures are available. [106838]
Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 19 December 2006:
Parliamentary Question Number 106838: The Quality of Ofsted Inspections
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.
You asked what assessment the Secretary of State has made of the quality of Ofsted inspections; and how many inspections fell (a) below and (b) above the expected standard in the last period for which figures are available.
Ofsted published an evaluation report on the new arrangements for the inspection of maintained schools under section 5 of the Education Act 2005 on 21 July 2006. On the same date, it also published an interim report by NFER, which is undertaking an independent external evaluation of the impact of section 5 inspections.
The full titles and links to these reports are as follows:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/2373
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/20060721
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