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19 Jan 2007 : Column 1387W—continued
Looked-after Children
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what representations he has received on the current commissioning arrangements for looked after children; and what level of funding for looked after children came from (a) local authorities, (b) the voluntary and charitable sector and (c) other sources in (i) each of the last three years and (ii) 1996-97. [115962]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 17 January 2007]: The consultation on the Care Matters Green Paper is ongoing and it is therefore too early to provide useful information about the representations received on this issue. Once the consultation period has ended a summary of responses will be published.
Gross expenditure by local authorities on looked after children was: £1,932,732k in 2004-05 (the latest available year); £1,765,279k in 2003-04; and £1,567,589k in 2002-03. In 1996-97 the expenditure was £964,999k.
The figures relate to expenditure by local authorities on local after children and reported on return EXP1. Local authorities use a number of sources of funding to pay for looked after children services including the Revenue Support Grant, Council tax, Uniform Business rates and charges. Information on the level of
funding by voluntary and charitable sources or other independent sources is not collected centrally.
Online National Qualifications Records System
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what advice he has (a) sought and (b) received on an online national qualifications records system. [116373]
Jim Knight: It is not clear what is meant by an online national qualifications system.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority advise me on qualifications systems and I have asked them to put a copy of their advice in the Library, relating to both the Qualification and Credits Framework and the National Database of Accredited Qualifications.
Martin Linton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of an online national qualifications records system. [116374]
Jim Knight: It is not clear what is meant by an online national qualifications records system.
However, a national qualifications database already exists in the National Database of Accredited Qualifications, provided on line by the regulators for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and this provides information on the qualifications accredited and regulated by these bodies. It also provides certain qualifications data to other systems used by bodies such as the LSC and DfES.
Pupil Funding
Mr. Heath: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average funding per pupil for (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils in (i) England and (ii) Somerset was in each of the last 10 years. [116141]
Jim Knight: The average funding per pupil for primary and secondary school pupils in England and Somerset from 1997-98 is contained within the following tables:
The following figures are taken from the new Dedicated Schools Grant and are in cash terms. They are not comparable with those for the earlier years. The Somerset and England Dedicated Schools Grant per pupil funding figures are:
| £ | ||
| Somerset | England | |
| Notes: 1. The total funding figures only run to 2005-06 because we cannot provide a consistent time series beyond that year as the introduction of the Dedicated School Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded. The 2004-05 and 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EPS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. In 2006-07 funding for schools changed with the introduction of the DSG which is based largely on an authority’s previous spending. 2. Dedicated School Grant (DSG) has a different coverage to EFS: EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions whereas DSG only covers the schools block. LEA block items are still funded through Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG’s) Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. This means that we have a break in our time series as the two sets of data are not comparable; an alternative time series is currently under development. 3. To provide a comparison for 2006-07 DSG, we have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06; as described above this does not represent the totality of ‘education’ funding in that year. There are other grants that support the schools budget, these are not included in the provided DSG figures as some of these grant figures are not yet available. 4. These figures are in cash terms and include the pensions transfer. | ||
Physical Education: Disabled
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to encourage sporting activity among young disabled people in schools. [108426]
Jim Knight: The Government are committed to increasing opportunities in PE and school sport for all young people, whatever their abilities or needs. The programmes of study for national curriculum physical education (PE) have been written so that they can provide effective learning opportunities for all young people. Guidance in the PE curriculum document shows how teachers can: adapt the programmes of study to set suitable learning challenges for all young people; respond to their diverse learning needs; and overcome potential barriers to learning.
As part of the National School Sport Strategy, all maintained schools in England, including special schools, are now part of the network of school sport partnerships. These are families of schools which work together to increase opportunities in PE and sport. Each partnership employs a partnership development manager who supports and manages the development of the partnership to ensure that all young people have access to a range of sporting activities which is appropriate for their own needs.
As part of the professional development strand within the National School Sport Strategy, teachers can access, free of charge, a range of resources and training aimed at developing an inclusive approach to PE and school sport.
Pupil Exclusions
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools were excluded in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [115092]
Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table.
School Building
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of schools in East Sussex likely to be (a) built and (b) refurbished using the capital spending announced in the Chancellor’s public spending statement. [116547]
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of schools in Lancashire likely to be (a) built and (b) refurbished through the capital spending announced in the Chancellor’s public spending statement. [117198]
Jim Knight: I have made no estimate of the number of schools in East Sussex and Lancashire likely to be (a) built and (b) refurbished through the capital spending announced in the Chancellor’s public spending statement. Decisions on building and refurbishing are taken by each local authority in the light of information available locally, including changes in pupil numbers and the condition of individual schools.
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