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20 Feb 2007 : Column 676Wcontinued
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects to reply to question 115962, tabled on 17 January 2007. [118178]
Mr. Dhanda: I replied to the hon. Ladys question 115962 on 19 January 2007, Official Report, columns 1387-388W.
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans his Department has to reform the national curriculum in history; and if he will make a statement. [121168]
Jim Knight: At the request of Government, the QCA 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 their pupils. A formal consultation on the new secondary curriculum began on 5 February 2007 and will run until 30 April 2007. Revised programmes of study will be available to schools for planning purposes in September 2007, with implementation beginning in September 2008.
While our overall intention is to increase flexibility for schools and teachers, the new draft history curriculum for Key Stage 3 (11-14) includes proposals for the slave trade and the British Empire to be compulsory elements for the first time, joining the two world wars and the holocaust, which are compulsory in the current National Curriculum.
Mr. Denis Murphy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students in (a) England and (b) Wansbeck are in receipt of the education maintenance allowance. [101943]
Phil Hope: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council, who operate education maintenance allowances for the DfES and hold the information about take-up of the scheme. Mark Haysom, the Councils Chief Executive, has written to my hon. Friend with the information requested and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 5 December 2006:
I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked how many students in (a) England and (b) Wansbeck are in receipt of the education maintenance allowance.
Information on the number of young people who have applied, enrolled and received Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is available at Local Authority level, but not at constituency level. EMA take-up is defined as young people who have received one or more EMA payment in the academic year.
By the end of October 2006, 404,676 young people in England had applied, enrolled and received one or more EMA payment during the academic year 2006/07.
By the end of October 2006, 2,563 young people in the Northumberland Local Authority area had applied, enrolled and received one or more EMA payment during the academic year 2006/07.
Ms Buck:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of those students enrolled on programmes of study leading to
English for speakers of other languages skills for life are (a) learners from the European Union, (b) asylum seekers and (c) economic immigrants. [117665]
Phil Hope: Since 2001, over 1.9 million learners have improved their English language skills on courses funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) through the Skills for Life Strategy.
Data on Further Education learners are gathered for the LSC through the Individualised Learner Record. Data is therefore a matter for the LSC and Mark Haysom, the Chief Executive has written to my hon. Friend explaining the more detailed arrangements and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary question regarding the proportion of students enrolled on to Skills for Life English for Speakers of other Language (ESOL) programmes that are learners from the European Union, asylum seekers and economic immigrants.
Date is gathered through the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). Its primary function is to capture learner suitability to a learning aim and ensure correct payment to the provider of learning, as such there are limitations as to what information we collect and are able to report on.
Current Skills for Life (SfL) policy means that when a learner has an identified SfL learning need this is the reason for fee remission and so no other reason is looked for or recorded on the ILR, for example whether they are an asylum seeker. Therefore we do not record whether a learner is an asylum seeker as the main reason for receiving funding is the fact that they have an identified SfL learning need. Therefore we are unable to identify asylum seekers.
As regards economic immigrants we do not ask the purpose for which non-nationals are living and working in the UK and so are unable to say how many of our learners come here as economic immigrants.
Within the ILR there is a field that records country of domicile. This records the learners normal country of residence, however, this is often recorded as England as this is where the learners are currently normally residing.
Analysis of data was undertaken for ESOL enrolments in 2004/05 which looked at the proportion of ESOL enrolments by country of domicile, in 3 broad categories, and these stood at:
4 per cent. for new EU accession states
90 per cent. for England
6 per cent. for rest of the world
Whilst this shows the majority as having the country of domicile as that of England we believe that this is not the full picture and many of these learners whilst currently living in the UK have originated elsewhere. There is no field on the ILR designed to capture this migration movement.
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the work programme is of the management board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; and if he will make a statement. [121401]
Bill Rammell:
The Management Board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP) meets annually to approve the work programme for the Centre for the coming year. The Management Board comprises representatives of Government, employers organisations, and employees
organisations from each member state and three representatives from the European Commission. Copies of the agreed work programme are then placed on the Centres website at: www.cedefop.europa.eu
CEDEFOP is the acronym, in French, of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. It was established by Council Regulation 337/75. It is the European Agency that helps promote and develop vocational education and training in the European Union. It has been based in Thessaloniki in Greece since 1995, operating a liaison office in Brussels.
1. compile selected documentation and analyses of data
2. contribute to developing and coordinating research
3. exploit and disseminate information
4. encourage joint approaches to vocational education and training problems
5. provide a forum for debate and exchanges of ideas
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is of the management board of the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training; and what share is met by the UK. [121400]
Bill Rammell: According to the last set of audited accounts for the European Centre for the Development of Vocational training (CEDEFOP), in 2005, the paid administration expenditure of CEDEFOP was €865,000. The costs relevant to the Management Board are paid from this budget line and are not separately identified from other administrative expenditure. The United Kingdom makes its contributions to the EC Budget as a whole and not to individual programmes within it. After taking account of the abatement, the United Kingdom gross share of financing the 2005 EC Budget was 12.06 per cent. The European Court of Auditors report on the 2005 CEDEFOP accounts was laid in Parliament in December 2006 and my department provided an Explanatory Memorandum to the European Scrutiny Committees on 16 January 2007.
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) HNDs and (b) foundation degrees were awarded in England in each year between 1998 and 2006. [121606]
Bill Rammell: The available information is given in the table.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 29 January 2007, Official Report, column 72W, on GCSEs, how many maintained mainstream schools did not enter any pupils for a GCSE in (a) a modern foreign language, (b) history and (c) geography in each year since 1997. [118399]
Jim Knight [holding answer 8 February 2007]: The following table shows the number of maintained mainstream schools where no 15-year-old pupils were entered at GCSE in history, geography and a modern foreign language since 1997.
History | Geography | MFL | All schools | |
Data for 2006 are revised. Data for all other years are final.
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many UK domiciled students at British universities studying for an (a) full-time and (b) part-time undergraduate honours degree there were in each year since 1997, broken down by socio-economic category. [119982]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 8 February 2007]: The latest available information for full-time students is given in the table. The figures are taken from data collected by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) which are limited to students who apply to full-time undergraduate courses via the UCAS application system. The figures do not therefore cover part-time students or those full-time students who apply directly to higher education institutions.
The socio-economic classification was introduced in 2002/03 to replace the social class categories, and so the two sets of data in these tables are not directly comparable.
The latest figures for acceptances to full-time undergraduate courses from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the percentage of acceptances from lower socio-economic groups has not fallen between 2004/05 and 2006/07.
UK domiciled accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses by social class for years of entry 1997-2001UK higher education institutions | ||||||
Year of entry | ||||||
Social class | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | |
(1) Based on those students with a known socio-economic classification. Source: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) |
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