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12 Mar 2007 : Column 34W—continued
Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many exclusions there were in each local education authority in (a) 1997 and (b) 2006. [124633]
Jim Knight: The information requested has been placed in the Library.
School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in English schools receive free fruit on a daily basis; what the annual cost is of this scheme; what estimate he has made of the cost of extending this scheme to all primary aged school children; and if he will make a statement. [125083]
Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.
There are currently 1,961,316 children participating in the school fruit and vegetable scheme in 16,505 schools. The cost is £36.2 million for produces and delivery and £0.5 million for administration in the current 2006-07 financial year. We have not made a detailed estimate of the cost of extending the scheme to all primary aged school children.
Schools: Calderdale
Mrs. Riordan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assistance has been (a) requested by and (b) given to (i) the local education authority in Calderdale to support schools in special measures and (ii) schools in special measures. [124636]
Jim Knight: A range of support is available to local authorities to help them to improve their schools, including guidance from the Department on schools causing concern, central funding from a variety of sources, a number of intervention and capacity building programmes and a network of school improvement delivery agencies some of whose work includes the provision of teaching materials and consultancy support. Every local authority has been allocated a share of an additional £30 million, over the 2006-07 and 2007-08 financial years, to support their school improvement work. Calderdale's share of this was £138,600.
Additional funding is also available from the Department’s interventions budget, to support failing and underperforming schools. Calderdale local authority was allocated £170,000 from the interventions budget in 2003-04, £184,500 in 2004-05 and £75,000 in 2005-06. This funding included support for the North Halifax Federation, including £67,000 for a school that was in special measures to support its transition to closure and successful merger with another school.
Schools: East Sussex
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps he is taking to support school sport in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex. [125528]
Jim Knight: As part of the national School Sport Strategy, all schools in Eastbourne are part of the Hailsham School Sport Partnership (a family of schools which work together to increase participation in PE and school sport). The partnership has received over £1 million in the past three years to support its work in raising participation levels, linking schools to local sports clubs, and increasing the number of pupils involved in sports volunteering. It has seen the percentage of pupils participating in at least two hours of high quality PE and school sport a week rise from 80 per cent. in 2003 to 92 per cent. in 2006.
A further two School Sport Partnerships cover the rest of the schools in East Sussex. The total investment in these three partnerships has been over £3 million since 2003/04. The partnerships also benefit from extra funding for: Competition Managers in the area—raising the quality and quantity of school competition; a Community Sports Coach—bringing a sports specialist into schools; and school swimming—helping weak swimmers become more confident in the water before they finish primary school.
Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in (a) Eastbourne and (b) East Sussex provide fruit for their pupils each day. [125530]
Caroline Flint: I have been asked to reply.
There are 149 schools in East Sussex, including 16 schools in Eastbourne, that participate in the school fruit and vegetable scheme.
Secondary Education: Curriculum
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the (a) risks and (b) consequences of doing nothing to the curriculum as part of the review of the secondary curriculum. [122807]
Jim Knight: If we do nothing to the secondary curriculum schools will not have the flexibility and space for stretching students and helping those who have fallen below the expected level in English and mathematics. We risk therefore being unable to increase the number of students who reach the age of 14 at a level which enables them to take full advantage of the increased choices we are making available in the 14-19 phase. The consequence of that will be that some young people become disengaged from learning and unable to meet their aspirations. Those young people are more likely to drop out of education and training post 16 and are less likely to succeed in later life.
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, whether the supporting materials produced to accompany the secondary curriculum review are intended to accompany the revised National Curriculum as non-statutory guidance; whether the supporting materials will be sent to schools; and on what legal basis these materials will be sent to schools. [124856]
Jim Knight: Supporting materials produced to accompany the secondary curriculum review are intended as guidance only and therefore non-statutory. They will available to schools via the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority website.
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, when the Director of Curriculum at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority visited South Africa; and how much the visit cost. [124858]
Jim Knight: The Director of Curriculum was in South Africa from 16 February to 21 February 2007. The event was paid for by the Western Cape Education Department.
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, how many consultation documents have been (a) requested and (b) provided by the Qualifications Curriculum Authority in (i) printed format and (ii) other formats. [124912]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has so far received three requests to provide consultation documents in printed format. These have been provided. No requests have been received to provide the consultation documents in other formats.
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 steps the Qualifications Curriculum Authority has taken to ensure that parents respond to the secondary curriculum review. [124913]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has a number of regional events planned with parents and students. It will use these to encourage parents to respond to the consultation on the secondary curriculum review. The widespread media coverage generated by the consultation launch, will mean that many parents are already aware that the consultation is taking place.
Sure Start Programme
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many grants were awarded to organisations for the purpose of meeting the capital costs of acquiring property for proposed new Sure Start centres; and what the value was of those grants. [126276]
Beverley Hughes: The General Sure Start Grant (GSSG) provided local authorities with a total of £813 million capital for the period 2006-08. The funding can be used for the developing of Sure Start children’s centres, including acquiring, refurbishing, or building new property. The Department does not collect specific data on capital spent acquiring property for the purpose of developing children’s centres.
Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures are (a) in place and (b) planned to recover Sure Start grants from organisations that have failed to open child care centres as planned; and if he will make a statement. [126403]
Beverley Hughes: Local authorities are responsible for how they use funding allocated to them through the General Sure Start Grant (GSSG) for the delivery of children's services. They have the freedom to use this funding to develop a range of provision including creating Sure Start Children's Centres, supporting the local child care market and developing extended schools services, in line with Government guidance. This will often involve using the local private, community or voluntary organisations to provide these services. If these organisations fail to deliver these services as planned, it is the responsibility of local authorities to recover this funding.
LAs have been asked to notify and consult with DfES about any proposal to sell or otherwise dispose of, or change the use of, buildings or other tangible assets which have been paid or partly paid for by a DfES capital grant. Notification should be at least three months before any planned disposal is intended to take place, where the market value exceeds £2,500.
Electoral Commission Committee
Electoral Register
Damian Green: To ask the hon. Member for Gosport, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission what guidance the Electoral Commission has given returning officers on removing from the Electoral Register those not entitled to vote; and if he will make a statement. [125650]
Peter Viggers: The Electoral Commission informs me that the guidance manuals it issued to electoral registration officers in England, Scotland and Wales in 2005 and 2006 included advice on eligibility for remaining on the electoral register. In July 2006, the Commission issued a circular to electoral registration officers on the extension by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 of the scope of their duties in relation to maintaining the electoral register, including removing those who are not eligible to be on it. I have arranged for a copy of this circular to be placed in the Library. The Commission has also provided further advice on this issue at its training and briefing seminars to support electoral administrators at the May 2007 elections.
Northern Ireland
Absent Voting
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many people have applied for a postal vote in each Northern Ireland constituency for the forthcoming election to the Assembly; and how many applied for such a facility in (a) the last general election and (b) previous Assembly election. [123491]
Mr. Hanson: The following table gives the breakdown by constituency of how many people have been issued with postal ballot papers. Figures for the number of postal ballot papers applied for are not available.
| Postal ballot papers issued | |||
| Constituency | NI Assembly election 2003 | Westminster parliamentary election 2005 | NI Assembly election 2007( 1) |
| (1) Does not include postal votes issued after the application deadline of 27 February 2007 due to unforeseen illness. | |||
Antisocial Behaviour Orders
Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the account taken of costs of determining whether to seek to obtain an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) in Northern Ireland; and what representations he has received from public authorities on this matter since the introduction of ASBOs in Northern Ireland. [126962]
Mr. Hanson: It is entirely the decision of the relevant authorities whether or not to apply for an antisocial behaviour order and this includes considering any issue relating to the cost. Any cost associated with seeking an antisocial behaviour order must be set against the cost of allowing the antisocial behaviour to continue unchallenged.
The NIO has no record of any representations from public authorities on this matter other than in response to the public consultation on the antisocial behaviour order proposals in 2004.
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