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5 Feb 2007 : Column 636W—continued


5 Feb 2007 : Column 637W

Looked-after Children

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate he has made of the number of looked-after children who were reported missing in 2006. [112191]

Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 29 January 2007]: The estimated number of looked-after children who were reported missing in 2005-06 is shown in the following table.

Children looked after who were reported missing in the year ending 31 March 2006( 1,2) —England
2005-06
Placement Number Percentage

All children missing from placement

1,000

100

In refuge (section 51 of Children Act)

10

0

Whereabouts known (not in refuge)

210

20

Whereabouts unknown

820

79

(1) Source—SSDA903
(2) To maintain the confidentiality of each individual child, data at national level are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 to the nearest 10 otherwise.
Note:
Due to rounding percentages do not add up to 100.

Music

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps have been taken to improve music programmes within secondary schools in 2006-07; and what funding has been allocated to that purpose for (a) 2006-07 and (b) 2007-08. [117471]

Jim Knight: In 2006-07 support has been given to two projects which help secondary teachers to focus on engaging pupils in their musical learning and so raise standards. These projects are the Secondary Strategy’s Key Stage 3 music professional development programme, which received £255,000 of funding support, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Musical Futures project, which received £145,000 of support.

At the request of Government, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is carrying out a review of the secondary curriculum to reduce prescription, improve coherence and create further opportunities for schools to meet the needs of all their pupils. This will build on the increased engagement created by the above projects. A formal consultation on the new secondary curriculum will begin on 5 February 2007. Revised programmes of study will be available to schools for planning purposes in September 2007, with implementation beginning in September 2008.

In total we have invested over £500 million in music education between 1999 and 2008 and £95 million will be invested in 2007-08 alone, which includes £10 million primarily to boost school singing. The focus of this funding has been on improving access to instrumental and vocal tuition for primary school pupils, which evidence shows to be the time to make the greatest impact on musical take-up. In the future secondary school pupils will have benefited from the £10 million investment in primary schools announced earlier this month.


5 Feb 2007 : Column 638W

Office for Fair Access

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the annual budget is of the Office for Fair Access; and how many people are employed there. [117111]

Bill Rammell: The annual budget for OFFA is £500,000. A director and three full-time members of staff are employed there.

Private Education

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of (a) primary and (b) secondary school students in England are being educated outside the state education system. [117464]

Jim Knight: The number and percentage of pupils attending independent schools are given in the table.

A primary/secondary indicator is not collected from independent schools, so a breakdown by age group has been provided.

Independent schools( 1) : Number and percentage of pupils( 2) as at January 2006—England
Number (headcount) of pupils
Pupils aged( 3) All schools Independent schools Percentage of pupils in independent schools( 4)

Under 5

905,940

64,040

7.1

5 to 10

3,618,470

200,440

5.5

11 to 15

3,238,020

233,820

7.2

16 and over

453,230

82,210

18.1

Total

8,215,660

580,510

7.1

(1) Excludes direct grant nursery schools, city technology colleges and academies
(2) Excludes dually registered pupils.
(3) Age as at 31 August 2005.
(4) The number of pupils in independent schools expressed as a percentage of pupils across all schools.
Note:
Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
Schools Census

School Playgrounds: Essex

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) school playgrounds and (b) parts of school playgrounds were sold in Essex in each of the last five years. [115903]

Jim Knight: In the last five years the Secretary of State has approved four applications that involve the disposal of either a playground or part of a playground at schools in Essex. The details are as follows:


5 Feb 2007 : Column 639W

Special Educational Needs

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were in (a) school action, (b) early years action, (c) school action plus and (d) early years action plus in each local education authority in each year since the scheme’s inception. [116994]

Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the House Library.

Information broken down by school action, early years action, school action plus and early years action plus is not available for all school types for all years requested. Where this breakdown is not available, the total number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) without a statement has been provided.

Special Schools

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children with statements were educated by each local authority at a special school outside the child’s local authority area, in each year since 1997. [117437]

Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 22 January 2007]: A table showing the number and percentage of children with statements of Special Educational Needs who were educated at a special school outside the child’s local authority area by each local authority for the years 2002 to 2006 has been placed in the Library.

Student Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what factors were taken into account when setting the maximum non-means-tested potential borrowing for a student living away from home and outside London for 2006-07. [110718]

Bill Rammell: As in previous years 75 per cent. of the maintenance loan is non-means-tested. The maximum loan rates were set to match the median basic expenditure by students based on the 2002/03 Student Income and Expenditure Survey.

All eligible full-time students are able to apply for a non-means-tested tuition fee loan to cover their tuition fees up to £3,000.

Underachieving Pupils

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what finances are targeted in 2006-07 to support the underachieving groups of (a) selected ethnic minorities, (b) white working-class boys and (c) looked-after children identified on page 29 of his Department’s annual report. [117107]


5 Feb 2007 : Column 640W

Jim Knight: Targeted finances which support underachieving groups are:

The Department has also allocated significant funding to support personalised learning within schools’ core budgets. In 2007-08 this amounts to £565 million through the Dedicated Schools Grant and £365 million through the School Standards Grant (Personalisation). Schools are encouraged to use this funding to support intervention and catch-up provision for children who have fallen behind in English and Maths; to support the education of gifted and talented learners; and to help learners from deprived backgrounds to access after-school and year-round activities.

Electoral Commission Committee

Political Parties: Expenditure

Mr. Heald: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what research the Electoral Commission has undertaken on the amount of expenditure by political party accounting units with expenditure below £25,000 a year. [117883]

Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that it has conducted no specific research on this issue. However, as part of its regulatory oversight of party finances, the Commission periodically requests details from all political party accounting units of their income and expenditure to enable it to check that every unit required by law to submit its accounts to the Commission is doing so. The Commission also, for the same purpose, regularly cross-checks information about donations accepted by accounting units against records of accounts submitted.

Work and Pensions

Pension Credit

17. Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of eligible pensioners not in receipt of pension credit. [118090]


5 Feb 2007 : Column 641W

James Purnell: Our first priority on taking office was dealing with the situation we inherited of pensioners already living in poverty. Since 1997 1 million pensioners have been lifted out of relative poverty thanks to measures like pension credit.

The White Paper "Security in Retirement: Towards a New Pensions System" announced our commitment to securing these gains into the future by uprating both the basic state pension and the standard minimum guarantee in pension credit in line with earnings over the long-term.

The latest available estimate is for 2004-05 when around 1 to 1.5 million pensioners were thought to be eligible for but not receiving pension credit.


5 Feb 2007 : Column 642W

Pension Credit: Newcastle Upon Tyne

Jim Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many households received pension credit in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne in each year in (a) May 2005 and (b) May 2006; and what the annual pension credit expenditure was in each ward in each year. [118527]

James Purnell: The answer is set out in the following table.

Household recipients of pension credit and the cost of pension credit expenditure for wards in Newcastle upon Tyne local authority, May 2005 and May 2006
Ward name Number of household recipients, 2005 Annual pension credit expenditure 2004-05 (£ million, nominal terms) Number of household recipients, 2006 Annual pension credit expenditure 2005-06 (£ million, nominal terms)

Benwall

645

1.4

625

1.5

Blakelaw

840

1.7

855

1.9

Byker

990

2.2

960

2.2

Castle

380

0.8

380

0.8

Dene

565

1.1

570

1.2

Denton

800

1.5

805

1.6

Elswick

600

1.6

595

1.6

Fawdon

730

1.6

750

1.8

Fenham

795

1.6

795

1.8

Grange

640

1.4

635

1.4

Heaton

380

0.8

380

0.9

Jesmond

285

0.7

285

0.7

Kenton

645

1.4

630

1.5

Lemington

595

1.2

595

1.3

Monkchester

795

1.9

765

2.0

Moorside

640

1.5

620

1.6

Newburn

730

1.4

745

1.6

Sandyford

690

1.5

685

1.6

Scotswood

430

1.0

435

1.1

South Gosforth

260

0.5

260

0.5

Walker

920

2.0

900

2.1

Walkergate

710

1.5

705

1.7

West City

695

1.8

675

1.8

Westerhope

625

1.2

640

1.3

Wingrove

395

1.0

410

1.1

Woolsington

710

1.5

705

1.5

Newcastle upon Tyne local authority total

16,410

35.9

16,390

38.2

Notes:
1. Expenditure figures are consistent with the pre-Budget report 2006 and are rounded to the nearest £100,000.
2. The number of households in receipt are rounded to a multiple of five.
3. As a result of 1. and 2., ward totals may not sum to area totals.
4. Case loads and average weekly amounts for May 2005 and May 2006 have been used to calculate the annual expenditure figures for each ward in Newcastle local authority.
5. Household recipients are those people who claim pension credit either for themselves only or on behalf of a household.
6. Wards are based on 2003 ward boundaries.
Source:
DWP Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100 per cent. data.

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