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16 Jan 2007 : Column 1048W—continued
Drug Testing
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which secondary schools have practised random drug testing; over what periods of time such testing has been carried out in each case; and what the GCSE results were for each such school in each of the last five years. [113103]
Jim Knight: Schools do not have to inform the Department if they wish to introduce random drug testing for pupils. However, we are aware of three maintained schools which have tested pupils for drugs: The Abbey School, Kent, The National School, Nottinghamshire, and Colne Community School, Essex. We understand that the Abbey School was the first to introduce drug testing in the spring term of 2005.
The proportion of 15-year-olds achieving 5+A*-C over the last five years, for which data is available, is given in the following table.
| Percentage | |||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
Education Funding: North Lincolnshire
Mr. Morley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the capital budget for education in North Lincolnshire was in each of the last 10 years. [110018]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 December 2007]: Capital allocations from the Department to schools in North Lincolnshire in each of the last 10 years are set out in the following table:
| Amount (£ million) | |
The increase in funding in 2001-02 and 2002-03 is due to large basic need, new deal for schools grant, and targeted capital fund grants. The increase in funding in 2004-05 is due to targeted capital fund grants.
English Language Teaching
Mr. Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support his Department gives to schools to help immigrants’ children to learn English. [113882]
Jim Knight:
Departmental funding is available via the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG). This is a ring-fenced grant which provides a contribution towards support for underachieving
ethnic minority pupils and support for those pupils for whom English is an Additional Language. The total grant for 2007-08 is £179 million.
In addition, £435 million of the £24.6 billion Schools Formula Spending Share for 2005-06 was distributed on the basis of numbers of children from underachieving ethnic minority groups and for those pupils for whom English is an Additional Language. The Dedicated Schools Grant allocations for 2007-08 will depend on January 2007 school census data.
In October 2006, we announced that the Department would allocate £400,000 for an English as an Additional Language Excellence Programme. The funding will be spent in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to provide advice, guidance and training for local authorities and schools to provide good quality provision for new arrivals and teaching English as an Additional Language.
Excluded Pupils
Mr. Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will bring forward proposals to ensure that children who are permanently excluded from schools in Northamptonshire receive alternative educational provision. [114492]
Jim Knight: From September 2007, the Education and Inspections Act 2006 will require all permanently excluded pupils to be provided with a full time education from the sixth day of exclusion. Local authorities will have a duty to make arrangements for these children to receive suitable alternative education.
Fingerprinting
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have commenced and subsequently withdrawn schemes for fingerprinting children in the last three years. [109814]
Jim Knight: The Department keeps no records of individual schools which may have commenced or withdrawn schemes for fingerprinting children.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in Castle Point (a) fingerprint and (b) have previously fingerprinted school children for administrative purposes. [109818]
Jim Knight: The Department keeps no records of schools which fingerprint or have previously fingerprinted school children for administrative purposes.
Foreign Language Teaching
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what progress has been made in the teaching of foreign languages in primary schools. [115289]
Jim Knight:
According to the latest Headspace survey, conducted by Education Guardian and EdComs, 71 per cent. of all English primary schools are either delivering or planning to deliver language learning programmes—a significant increase since 2002 when only 20 per cent. of primary schools were offering
opportunities to learn languages. The Department, over the two financial years 2006-08, will have distributed £49.5 million amongst all local authorities through the Standards Fund to support language learning programmes.
To build workforce capacity in English primary schools, the Department funds the cost of initial teacher training for new primary teachers with a languages specialism in French, Spanish, German, Italian or Portuguese. To date 2,000 new teachers with a language specialism have been trained.
In addition, we are funding training for existing primary teachers with language skills so that they too can support language learning programmes in their schools.
Finally, we have published the Key Stage 2 Framework for Languages which offers a practical reference tool for planning, teaching and monitoring the learning process.
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will re-instate as compulsory the teaching of foreign languages in secondary schools. [112786]
Jim Knight: Lord Dearing is currently carrying out a review of language learning in secondary schools and is due to submit his final report to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills by the end of February. The Secretary of State will consider Lord Dearing’s recommendations and formally respond to them.
Foundation Degrees
Stephen Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 19 December 2006, Official Report, column 1863W, on foundation degrees, if he will list the organisations which have provided informal feedback welcoming the provision in the Further Education and Training Bill. [115624]
Bill Rammell: The Association of Colleges, which represents the interests of Further Education Colleges in England and Wales, has welcomed the proposals in Clause 19 (Power to award Foundation Degrees only) of the Further Education and Training Bill. In addition, the Mixed Economy Group and the 157 Group of leading Further Education Colleges have been similarly supportive of the move. Positive feedback has also been received in my Department from individual college principals within the FE sector who feel that the proposals are enabling, and that they will facilitate the sector’s vital role, emphasised by Lord Leitch’s recent report on skills, in providing high-quality training that is flexible and responsive to employers’ and learners’ needs.
French IGCSE
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will approve the International General Certificate of Secondary Education in French for teaching in maintained schools. [107284]
Jim Knight: Unlike the GCSE, International GCSEs, including French, have been designed primarily as a qualification for overseas candidates and are not aligned to the national curriculum programmes of study at Key Stage 4. They have not, therefore, been approved by the Secretary of State under Section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 as an external qualification for use with pupils in maintained secondary schools. The GCSE remains the principal means of assessing pupil attainment at the end of compulsory schooling in maintained schools; there are no current plans to change this. The Department recently launched an e- consultation on IGCSEs to seek the views of the wider community on the issues for IGCSEs in the maintained sector. The consultation will run until 23 February 2007. The consultation can be accessed at: www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations.
GCSEs
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of pupils in maintained schools were entered for a GCSE in both history and geography in each year since 1996. [108838]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the number and percentage of 15-year-old pupils(1) attempting a GCSE at both geography and history in each year since 1996.
Interpreters
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent by each local education authority on interpreters in the last year for which figures are available. [114208]
Jim Knight: The Department does not collect this information.
Key Stage 3
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of 14-year-olds achieved (a) level 5 and (b) level 6 at Key Stage 3 in teacher assessments for non-core subjects in each year since 1997. [113250]
Jim Knight: The following table gives the percentage of pupils achieving level 5 and level 6 in each of the KS3 non-core teacher assessments since 1997. The 2006 data are not yet available.
| Percentage of pupils achieving level 5 | ||||||||
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