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20 Feb 2007 : Column 692W—continued
| Number of part-time funded places( 1, 2, 3) filled by three and four year olds, local authority Barnet, position in January each year | ||||||
| Three year olds | Four year olds | |||||
| Maintained nursery and primary schools( 4) | Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers | Total three year olds | Maintained nursery and primary schools( 6) | Other maintained and private, voluntary and independent providers | Total four year olds | |
| n/a = Not available. (1) A place is equal to five or more sessions and can be filled by more than one child. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 10 or 100 as appropriate. (3) For 1997, information on early education places taken up by four year olds was derived from returns made by local authorities as part of the nursery education grant (NEG) data collection exercise. These data do not differentiate between the maintained and private, voluntary and independent sectors. (4) Headcount of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (5) Headcount of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Annual Schools' Census. (6) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the nursery education grant data collection exercise. (7) Part-time equivalent number of children aged three at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. (8) Part-time equivalent number of children aged four at 31 December in the previous calendar year from the Early Years Census and the Annual Schools' Census. | ||||||
Since April 2004 all three and four year olds have been entitled to a free, good quality, early education place consisting of 12.5 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year. This will be extended to 15 hours a week by 2010 and by that time, parents who wish to do so will also be able to access the free entitlement flexibly across a minimum of three days.
The latest figures on early education places for three and four year olds in England were published in Statistical First Release 32/2006 “Provision for children under five years of age in England—January 2006 (final)” in August, which is available on my Department’s website: www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/.
Schools: Admissions
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions he plans to have with local education authorities in sustainable communities plan areas on the future provision of school places in (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [120328]
Jim Knight: It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure that there are sufficient schools for pupils in their areas and to plan accordingly. Government Offices for the regions work closely with local authorities in sustainable communities plan areas across the range of their activities, including housing and education. The Department provides capital support for local authorities and schools to invest in school infrastructure, based on the needs of the area as projected by the local authority. Our long-term, strategic capital programmes for primary and secondary schools also involve discussions with local authorities about the provision of pupil places and the buildings and capital implications.
Schools: Fire Extinguishers
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance is given on the installation of sprinkler systems in Building Schools for the Future projects; what guidance is given on steps to minimising school insurance costs; and if he will make a statement. [121523]
Jim Knight: Fire Safety in schools is covered by Part B of the Building Regulations. Additional guidance can be found in DfES Managing School Facilities Guide 6 “Fire Safety”. DfES will be publishing a new Building Bulletin 100 “Designing and managing against the risk of fire in schools” later this year. This will include extensive guidance on sprinklers.
DfES will also shortly be publishing a report on the costs of sprinkler systems in schools, a risk assessment tool, and a cost benefit analysis tool which are all
intended to help Building Schools for the Future programme managers decide when to install sprinkler systems.
Schools being aware of risks and managing them appropriately is the key to cutting insurance costs. To help schools manage their risks more effectively DfES is working with local authorities and insurers with the aim of reducing the number of incidents to property and people in schools. A new risk management strategy is being piloted to include a diagnostic risk ranking tool to allow local authorities to assess levels of risk in individual schools and a web based risk management toolkit to provide advice for schools on improving their risks. Both will be available shortly. More information is available at: www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/
Schools: Music
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many primary schools in each constituency have a teacher with a formal music qualification; [121605]
(2) how many staff were responsible for musical instrument teaching in (a) head-count and (b) full-time equivalent terms in maintained (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each year between 1996 and 2006. [121624]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
In 2002 an estimated 6,100 full-time teachers were teaching music in maintained schools in England. This was an increase on the estimated 5,600 full-time teachers teaching music in maintained schools in England in 1996. The source of this information is the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Surveys for 2002 and 1996.
Schools: Sports
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 19 January 2007, Official Report, columns 455 and 1376W, on competition managers, what the age groups were of the participants in the identified competitions, broken down by school year. [118304]
Jim Knight: Data were not collected in the format requested.
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 7 February 2007, Official Report, column 998W, on new competitions, how many new participants were produced by these competitions, broken down by sport. [121599]
Jim Knight: Data were not collected in the format requested. Information was recorded on attendances by young people generally rather than new participants.
Secondary Education: Curriculum
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will provide an executive summary of the proposals outlined in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority secondary curriculum review. [122064]
Jim Knight:
We asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to review the secondary
curriculum with the aim of raising standards (particularly in English and mathematics); reducing prescription; and promoting innovative, whole-school curriculum planning.
All of the compulsory subjects will remain in the new curriculum but there will be a reduction in the level of prescribed subject detail and a sharper focus on the essential concepts and skills offered by the subject disciplines. By removing overlap and highlighting connections between the subjects, the new curriculum will create time for teachers to personalise their teaching, allowing them to offer catch up lessons where needed, and to create opportunities for pupils to deepen and extend their learning in areas where they have particular interests and aptitudes.
Key elements of curriculum content that have stood the test of time will remain but there will be more emphasis on using the curriculum as a whole to develop those personal attributes and life skills which young people will need at work and in their own lives.
The common format of the new programmes of study will make it easier for schools to make connections between the subjects and to look for ways to make the curriculum more coherent for pupils. Cross-curricular themes such as diversity and creativity have been drawn out and case studies and guidance are offered on a range of additional curriculum opportunities.
The new secondary curriculum will draw together the various strands of the existing personal development curriculum under the heading of Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE), which will cover both personal and economic well-being.
At Key Stage 4 specific changes have been made to address progression from Key Stage 3 and the introduction of functional skills in English, mathematics and ICT. The new secondary curriculum will be accompanied by guidance for teachers which will help them track the progress of their pupils, focusing on how well they have grasped the key concepts and skills in each curriculum subject.
Minor changes to the level descriptions—the benchmarks for pupil achievement nationally—have been made where required.
More information about the review—including the draft programmes of study—is available online at:
www.qca.org.uk/secondarycurriculumreview.
Special Educational Needs: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of funding for the establishment of regional centres of expertise for low incidence special educational needs and children with sensory impairments has been allocated to Peterborough local education authority in 2006-07; and what proportion he expects to allocate in 2007-08. [120329]
Mr. Dhanda: Following assessment of detailed proposals, DfES grants to a total of £438,000 were offered in support of the establishment of regional centres of expertise in 2006-07. Funding was however offered to regions not individual authorities.
Proposals for innovative regional projects in 2007-08 including further work on regional centres have been invited and will be considered during February 2007.
Students: Per-capita Costs
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average marginal cost was of (a) part-time and (b) full-time students of higher education programmes for (i) HEFCE and (ii) the LSC in each academic year between 1996-97 and 2006-07. [121604]
Bill Rammell: The funding allocated by (i) the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), and (ii) the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is in the following tables.
The two councils are funded differently reflecting their institutions’ needs and this is reflected in the information available. Figures disaggregated by part-time and full-time students are not available. Similarly, for the LSC, it is not possible to disaggregate funding of higher education programmes from that for other provision.
(i) The funding per full-time equivalent higher education student studying at English institutions funded by HEFCE/TDA is shown in the table; in addition to these totals, institutions have been free from September 2006 to charge up to £3,000 for full-time home and EU undergraduates, with the Government not students meeting the up front costs.
| £ | ||
| Real terms (2004-05 prices)( 1) | Total funding per planned student | Funding per planned student |
| (1) All figures are at 2004-05 prices using the March 2006 GDP deflators, rounded to the nearest £10, and consistent with the plans set out in the Department’s 2006 Annual Report. (2) In 2005-06, the difference between the two series is due to two factors: (a) excluding tuition fee income which accounts for about £700 (the difference is less than the standard fee as figures are on an full-time equivalent basis); and (b) the move to the whole-year count method which accounts for the residual. | ||
These funds include recurrent resources for teaching and research provided to the HEFCE and the TDA. The total funding per planned student series also includes fee income. With the introduction of variable fees in 2006, there is no longer a fixed fee paid for each student, and so a new measure ‘funding per planned student’ is now used, although most higher education institutions are charging £3,000. All figures exclude expenditure on student support costs.
The coverage of these figures is home (i.e. UK) and EU domiciled students studying at higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) in England.
It is not possible to disaggregate these figures by full- and part-time students because the Department delegates funds to HEFCE and IDA with total expected full time equivalent (FTE) student numbers. It should be noted however that part-time students funded via HEFCE attract a 10 per cent. premium on the rate for FTE students.
(ii) The figures for unit funding from LSC are not available on a basis consistent with those from HEFCE. The funding per Learning Aim at Level 4 and above funded by the LSC is shown in the table; figures prior to 2004/05 are not available.
| Real terms (2004-05 prices)( 1) | Funding per learning aim per annum (£) |
| (1) All figures are at 2004-05 prices using the March 2006 GDP deflators, rounded to the nearest £10. | |
These figures are derived by LSC from actual funding made available in the corresponding academic year divided by the number of learning aims that LSC have supported.
These two sets of figures are not comparable, in particular because LSC figures are per learning aim rather than per FTE. For example a learner funded by the LSC is more likely to be studying part-time and could be pursuing a number of learning aims in parallel. Figures are not available on a consistent basis.
Sure Start Programme: Hendon
Mr. Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) Sure Start and (b) under fives child care places are available in Hendon; and if he will make a statement. [118449]
Beverley Hughes: Both of Barnet council’s designated Sure Start Children’s Centres are located in the Hendon constituency—Parkfield Community School and Children’s Centre and Wingfield Children’s Centre. These centres offer a full range of services including health and family support, full day care integrated with early learning and links with Job Centre Plus. Between them, the centres offer 91 child care places and reach around 2,192 children. Barnet council is planning to open a further four children’s centres in the Hendon constituency by March 2008 as part of phase 2 of the programme. The number of registered childcare places(1) for children under eight in Barnet local authority area was 9,300 as at 31 March 2006. The latest figures on registered childcare provider and places are available on: www.ofsted.gov.uk/.
(1 )Includes full day care, sessional day care, childminders, out of school and crèche day care.
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