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Table 3: Children looked after by local authorities placed in foster care and placed for adoption at 31 March 1997 to 2006( 1, 2, 3, 4) , England
Number
As at 31 March: All children looked after by local authorities Children looked after placed in foster care Children looked after placed in foster care with relative or friend Children looked after placed in foster care not with relative or friend Children looked after placed for adoption Children looked after in other type of placements( 5)

2002(6)

59,700

39,200

7,100

32,100

3,600

16,900

2003(6)

60,800

41,100

7,700

33,300

3,400

16,300

2004

61,200

41,200

7,700

33,500

3,600

16,400

2005

60,900

41,300

7,600

33,700

3,400

16,200

2006

60,300

42,000

7,400

34,600

2,900

15,500

(1) Source, DfES, SSDA903 return which since 2004 covered all children looked after by local authorities. SSDA903 covered only a third of children looked after by local authorities in 2002 and 2003.
(2) Figures for children looked after in this table exclude agreed series of short-term placements
(3) To maintain the confidentiality of each individual child, data at national level are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 or to the nearest 10 otherwise.
(4) Historical data may differ from older publications. This is mainly due to the implementation of amendments and corrections sent by some local authorities after the publication date of previous materials.
(5) Figures include children looked after by local authority who are placed with own parents, who are placed in independent living, in residential employment, in secure units, in homes and hostels, in residential accommodation not subject to children’s homes regulations, in other residential settings, in schools and finally children who are missing from placements and who are in other placements not listed.
(6) SSDA903 only covered a third of children looked after by local authorities.

Table 4: Number of young persons aged 19 “in-touch” with local authority, percentage engaged in higher education who were looked after on 1 April 2002 aged 16 or over, in the years ending 31 March 2005 and 2006( 1, 2, 3, 4)
2005 2006
Number “in-touch Percentage in higher education Number “in-touch Percentage in higher education

England

4,600

7

4,900

7

West Sussex

80

11

60

17

Brighton and Hove

30

30

East Sussex

30

30

(1) Source, DfES, SSDA903 return which in 2005 and 2006 covered ‘all’ children looked after by local authorities.
(2) Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements.
(3) Percentages are suppressed to preserve confidentiality if the numerator is between 1 and 5 inclusive or the denominator is between 1 and 10 inclusive and replaced by a long dash.
(4) Young person engaged in higher education (i.e. studies beyond A level).

Nursery Providers

Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many mainstream nursery providers there were in the Sunderland city council area in (a) 1997 and (b) 2005. [110059]

Beverley Hughes: Information is not collected in the form requested.

The available information on child care providers is shown in tables 1 and 2.

Table 1: Number( 1) of registered child care providers for children under eight years of age by type—Sunderland local authority area—position at 31 March 2005
Type of care 2005

Full day care

50

Sessional day care

(2)

Child minders

300

Out of school day care

30

Crèche day care

20

(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100.
(2) Indicates 1 or more, but less than 5.
Source:
Ofsted

Table 2: Number( 1) of day care providers for children under eight years of age by type of provider—Sunderland local authority area—position at 31 March 1997
Type of provider 1997

Day nurseries

20

Playgroups and pre-schools

20

Child minders

370

Out of school clubs

10

Holiday schemes

10

(1) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 if under 100, and to the nearest 100 if over 100.
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 1997 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 1997.

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
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September 2001, child care places were classified according to the type of day care provided: full day care, sessional day care, child minder, 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 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, child minders, 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:

Prison Education

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment was made of the (a) literacy, (b) numeracy and (c) writing abilities of prisoners in each of the last 10 years. [113652]

Phil Hope: The information requested is not collected centrally. However, Home Office statistics show that 37 per cent. of prisoners had reading skills below level 1, 43 per cent. had numeracy skills below level 1, 46 per cent. had spelling skills below level 1 and 62 per cent. of prisoners had punctuation skills below level 1.

Mr. Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his most recent assessment is of the percentage of prisoners who have no educational or other qualifications. [113653]

Phil Hope: The Home Office publication “Through the Prison Gate”, 2001 recorded that 52 per cent. of male prisoners and 71 per cent. of female prisoners had no qualifications.

Pupils: Assessments

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils achieved (a) level 4 at key stage 2 and (b) level 5 at key stage 3 for
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each subject as the result of a borderline check in each year since 1996. [108837]

Jim Knight: The process by which borderline checks are completed does not produce definitive figures across all subjects to show how many pupils achieved levels as a result of these checks.

Random Drug Testing

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what research has been conducted by his Department into the (a) social, (b) ethical and (c) moral implications of random drug testing in high schools; [110357]

(2) how much has been spent on random drug testing in high schools; [110358]

(3) what the results were of random drug testing in high schools, by classification of drugs found; [110359]

(4) what proportion of high schools practise random drug testing; and what method of testing is used. [110386]

Mr. Dhanda: Schools do not have to inform the Department if they wish to introduce drug testing for pupils. However, we know of three maintained schools which have tested pupils for drugs. We do not collect information on how much is being spent by schools on drug testing, the methods being used or the results of these tests. The Department has not commissioned research into the effectiveness of drug testing but is working with Kent local authority to carry out an evaluation of drug testing in schools.

School Leavers

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of pupils achieving two or more passes at A-level or equivalent left school for (a) further education, (b) higher education, (c) unemployment, (d) employment and (e) other destinations in each year since 1997. [108262]

Jim Knight: Estimates derived from the Youth Cohort Study (YCS) are shown in the following table. The figures are based on the activity of young people in the third year following the completion of compulsory education holding a level 3 qualification (e.g. two or more A levels or equivalent) having been in full-time education in both the previous two years.

Activity at 18 for those holding level 3 qualifications having been in full-time education at 16 and 17
Percentage
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Full-time higher education

56

56

55

59

60

Full-time further education

14

13

11

10

10

Employment

25

25

29

26

24

Unemployed

3

3

2

1

3

Other

2

2

4

4

3

Total

100

100

100

100

100

Source:
Youth Cohort Study for England and Wales Cohorts 8 to 12

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School Staffing Regulations

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether the School Staffing Regulations (England) 2003 remain in force; and if he will make a statement. [110426]

Jim Knight: The School Staffing Regulations (England) 2003 are still in force, however there have been some amendments made following the introduction of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

School Thefts

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many thefts of school property from school premises there were in each month in each of the last three years; and what estimate he has made of the total value of property stolen over this period. [106617]

Jim Knight [holding answer 30 November 2006]: The information requested is not collected by the Department for Education and Skills.


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