| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
17 Apr 2007 : Column 556W—continued
These figures are drawn from the operational client management systems maintained by Connexions services. It only includes those people known to the service (about 85 per cent. of the population); some young people who attended independent schools or were at school outside England are excluded. The age relates to those of calendar year age 16-18 on the date of measurement.
This NEET measure is that used for setting and monitoring local authority performance. The definition differs from that used to measure the national departmental PSA NEET target. Along with not covering the entire population, the Connexions NEET measure excludes those on gap years, or in custody. The PSA measure is for academic rather than calendar age 16-18.
Schools: Admissions
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what support he is providing to local authorities who wish to pilot anonymised admissions procedures. [130742]
Jim Knight: During debate on the Education and Inspections Act, we supported the suggestion that local authorities or other third parties might assess applications for school places on behalf of admission authorities in the area, with their agreement. Officials have now met local authorities who expressed an interest in piloting the ‘admissions administration’ approach, and two have taken this interest further and are discussing the idea locally. Limited funding may be available to cover implementation costs, and the Department’s officials have asked for details of what these might be.
Schools: Intimidation
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he has issued guidance to schools on the supervision of changing rooms for the purposes of combating bullying. [131677]
Jim Knight: The Department’s current anti-bullying guidance, “Don’t Suffer in Silence”, advises schools to work with pupils to map the places on the school premises where bullying occurs. This enables schools to improve the school environment and reduce the potential for incidents of bullying to occur. The guidance is currently being revised and, as part of that process, we will look at how we might strengthen its advice.
The Department’s forthcoming guidance on cyberbullying will include more specific advice on the supervision of changing rooms, and the use of mobile phones in these settings.
Science: Teachers
Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the 7,500 new science teachers hired in 2005 referred to in the Prime Minister’s speech Our Nation’s Future—Science in November 2006 are specialists in (a) physics, (b) chemistry and (c) biology. [130470]
Jim Knight:
The 7,500 referred to in the Prime Minister’s speech, “Our Nation’s Future—Science”, is the number of trainees registered to enter mainstream(1) science, technology, engineering and mathematics Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses in the academic year 2005/06. The breakdown of science courses into the individual specialisms was not available prior to 2006/07. Provisional data for recruitment to ITT
courses in 2006/07 were published in January 2007 and are available at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000681/index.shtml
(1) Mainstream ITT providers include Universities and other Higher Education Institutions, SCITT and OU, but excludes employment based routes
Secondary Education: Curriculum
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) pursuant to his answer of 27 March 2007, Official Report, columns 1406-7W, on secondary education: curriculum, how many parents will be invited to attend the regional events on the secondary curriculum review; [131270]
(2) which local authorities have been asked to host the regional events for parents on the secondary curriculum review. [131271]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, working with St. Martins College, held events for parents in Sandwell on 16 March 2007 and in Bristol on 22 March 2007. The two local authorities asked schools to invite parents to take part in the events.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 27 March 2007, Official Report, column 1407W, on secondary education: curriculum, whether the Director of Curriculum produced a report on his visit to South Africa. [131277]
Jim Knight: The Director of Curriculum visited South Africa at the request of the Western Cape Education Department. He provided a verbal report to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority Chief Executive and relevant colleagues.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what scientifically based research was (a) commissioned, (b) produced and (c) consulted by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority on the approach to the curriculum adopted in the secondary curriculum review. [131285]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's (QCA) approach to the curriculum adopted in the secondary curriculum review is built on evidence from ongoing work with schools and colleges. The ‘futures in action’ programme, which has been running since 2005, has continued to demonstrate a high degree of consensus about many of the characteristics of how the curriculum should be shaped. QCA's work is also supported by the results of its annual curriculum monitoring programme which includes interviews and questionnaires with head teachers, deputy heads, teachers and pupils.
Special Educational Needs: Lancashire
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in (a) Lancashire and (b) Ribble Valley (i) had special educational needs and (ii) were educated in special schools in each year since 2000. [130737]
Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is shown in the following tables.
| Number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) and number of pupils in special schools( 1) 2000- 06, position in January each year—Lancashire local authority and Ribble Valley parliamentary constituency | ||||||||
| Lancashire local authority | ||||||||
| Pupils with SEN | Pupils in special s chools | |||||||
| With statements | Without statements( 2) | Maintained | Non-maintained | |||||
| Number | Percentage( 4) | Number | Percentage( 4) | Number | Percentage( 5) | Number | Percent age( 5) | |
| Ribble Valley local authority | ||||||||
| Pupils with SEN | Pupils in special schools | |||||||
| With statements | Without statements | Maintained | Non-maintained | |||||
| Number | Percentage( 4) | Number | Percentage( 4) | Number | Percentage( 5) | Number | Percent age( 5) | |
| (1 )Excludes dually registered pupils (2 )Excludes general hospital schools. This information is not collected from these schools. (3 )There are known quality issues with data on special educational needs collected via the Schools Census in 2001. Figures shown here are as reported by schools. (4 )Number of pupils with or without a statement of SEN expressed as a percentage of the number on roll. (5 )Number of pupils in maintained or non-maintained special schools expressed as a percentage of pupils in all schools. Not applicable, no schools of this type. Source: School Census | ||||||||
Special Educational Needs: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children resident in the Peterborough local education authority area with special educational needs were placed in schools outside that area in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [121149]
Mr. Dhanda [holding answer 21 February 2007]: This information has previously been requested in PQ117437. A table showing the number and percentage of children with statements of special educational need who were educated at a special school outside their local authority area, by each local authority for the years 2002 to 2006 was placed in the House of Commons Library on 30 January 2007.
Students: Loans
Mr. McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will ensure that the interest rates charged by the Student Loans Company are not raised by any more than the inflation rate for the next five years. [131301]
Bill Rammell: The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 specifies that the interest rate charged by the Student Loans Company must be no higher than that required to maintain the value of the loan in real terms. Any change to this limit would require the agreement of Parliament.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |