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8 Mar 2007 : Column 2234W—continued
| Pupil absence (percentage of half days missed) in maintained secondary schools( 1) in Lancashire LEA 1997/98 to 2005/06( 2,3) | ||||||||||
| Local authority | 1997/98 | 1998/99 | 1999/2000 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Due to Local Government Reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. (3) Figures for Lancashire local authority are available to 1 decimal place prior to 2001/02 and two decimal places from 2001/02 onwards. | ||||||||||
Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy.
Pupils: Uniforms
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his Department’s policy is on the provision of individual tuition to pupils who have absented themselves from schools following disputes about the wearing of (a) school uniform, (b) appropriate dress and (c) jewellery. [125161]
Jim Knight: There is no provision in law for pupils to absent themselves from school following disputes about school uniform or other aspects of appearance, and therefore no provision for pupils to receive individual tuition in such circumstances.
Where a school decides that a pupil must change their clothes in order to comply with school uniform or dress code, they may allow a short period of absence to enable the pupil to go home and change. Any further absence would be unauthorised, which could render the parents of the absent child liable for prosecution.
Royal Mail
Mr. Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much his Department spent using Royal Mail in each of the last five years. [115253]
Alan Johnson: The Department for Education and Skills expenditure on Royal Mail Services in each of the last five financial years was:
| £ | |
Schools: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether any schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex have been (i) put into and (ii) taken out of special measures in the last 12 months. [125467]
Jim Knight: No schools in the Eastbourne constituency have been made subject to or removed form special since 1 March 2006.
Two schools within the East Sussex local authority have been made subject to special measures since 1 March 2006 (White House primary school and Marshlands primary school) and one school removed from special measures (Castledown Community primary school).
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his plans are for future capital expenditure on schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex. [125445]
Jim Knight: The Department does not keep separate records for Eastbourne as schools capital allocations are made on a local authority basis. Future capital expenditure on schools will be determined by East Sussex local authority, taking into account not only allocations from the Department, but other sources of income it may have access to, including capital receipts and prudential borrowing.
The Department has allocated £56 million to East Sussex in the spending review period 2005-06 to 2007-08. Decisions on allocations for the spending review period commencing 2008-09 will be taken during the summer.
Schools: Lancashire
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Lancashire were scheduled to be refurbished over the last five years; and how many were refurbished over that period. [125245]
Jim Knight:
The Department does not hold information on numbers of schools scheduled for
refurbishment or numbers of schools refurbished. The bulk of schools capital is allocated by formula to authorities and schools so that they can address their priorities. The assessment of the state of the buildings and the prioritisation of investment is carried out locally, rather than by the Department. Authorities and schools are encouraged to operate good quality, transparent asset management processes and to align their priorities with those of central Government.
Central Government capital support for investment in schools has increased from under £700 million in 1996-97 to £5.5 billion in 2005-06 and will rise further to over £6.3 billion by 2007-08. Progress is being made year-by-year in improving the quality of the school building stock.
Schools: Leicester
Sir Peter Soulsby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Leicester (a) collect and (b) store biometric data on their students; and if he will make a statement. [125635]
Jim Knight: The Department has no estimate of the number of schools that collect and/or store biometric data on their students.
Secondary Education: Curriculum
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007, Official Report, column 1024W, on secondary education: curriculum, whether it is the intention of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority that teachers should correct non-standard uses of English. [124852]
Jim Knight: It is the intention of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority that pupils are taught how to speak standard English fluently and to use the conventions of standard English effectively.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007, Official Report, column 1025W, on secondary education: curriculum, what assessment the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has made of the curriculum of South Africa; and whether the QCA adopted elements of the approach to the curriculum in South Africa when designing the secondary curriculum review. [124857]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has made no formal assessment of the curriculum of South Africa and has not adopted elements of the approach to the curriculum in South Africa into the revised secondary curriculum.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 February 2007, Official Report, column 1025W, on secondary education: curriculum, what the purpose is of the qualifications and curriculum consultation on the contents of the supporting materials. [125262]
Jim Knight: The purpose of the consultation on the secondary curriculum review supporting materials is to gather views on how effective they are in helping teachers and curriculum planners plan for and implement the proposed revised programmes of study. This information will inform the next stage of development of these materials.
Special Advisers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of his Department’s civil servants work full-time to support departmental special advisers; and what the salary is of each such civil servant. [106509]
Mr. Dhanda: Three members of staff are primarily employed to provide support of a non-political nature in accordance with the “Code of Conduct for Special Advisers”.
In order to protect the privacy of the individual civil servants, salary details will not be disclosed.
Specialist Schools: Disabled
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many disabled children in England attended specialist colleges for their post-16 education in each of the last three years for which data is available. [125108]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 5 March 2007]: Figures for those participating in further education (FE) funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) can be derived from the individualised learner record (ILR). Learner self-assessment of whether they have a learning difficulty, disability and/or health problem is recorded on the LSC’s learner data for learners participating in further education. The following table shows the total number of learners in specialist colleges by disability for 2003/04, 2004/05 and 2005/06.
Specialist Schools: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills which schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex that are designated as specialist (i) sports colleges, (ii) technology colleges, (iii) language colleges, (iv) arts and humanities colleges and (v) business and enterprise colleges. [125529]
Jim Knight: There are five sports colleges, six technology colleges, two language colleges and six arts colleges in East Sussex local authority, including one technology college and three arts colleges in Eastbourne. In addition: Hailsham community college (sports) also has a business and enterprise second specialism; Chailey school (language) has a humanities second specialism; and Uplands community college (technology) has second specialism in arts. The schools are:
| Main Specialism | Second Specialism | |
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