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19 Apr 2007 : Column 724W—continued
| Applicants from England to UCAS by subject group and age group—autumn 2006 entry | |||||
| Under 21 | 21-24 | 25-39 | 40 and over | Total | |
| Source: UCAS | |||||
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority: Overseas Visits
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many overseas visits have been made by each member of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) executive in the past 12 months; and how many of these were funded by (a) the QCA and (b) an overseas organisation. [131236]
Jim Knight: The executive members of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) who have made overseas visits in the last 12 months are the chief executive (one), director of curriculum (four) and director of regulation and standards (four). None of the visits were funded by the QCA. Five of the visits were funded by overseas organisations.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many visits the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) received from representatives of overseas curriculum setting bodies in the last 12 months; and how many were funded by (a) the QCA and (b) an overseas organisation. [131237]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) received 69 visits from representatives of overseas organisations in the last 12 months, including many with an interest in curriculum issues. None of these visits were funded by QCA.
Refuges: Pilot Schemes
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of the evaluation of community-based flexible refuge pilots commissioned by his Department. [132643]
Mr. Dhanda: The Barnardo’s report on the six community-based refuge pilots, and a separate “Lessons Learned” summary, are currently in draft form. Officials are working closely with Barnardo’s to revise and finalise these, to extract the maximum learning from the pilots. Copies of the final versions will be placed in the Library.
School Day: Lancashire
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in (a) Lancashire and (b) Ribble Valley offer extended hours; and if he will make a statement. [130739]
Jim Knight: There are 43 primary schools, 11 secondary schools and two special schools in Lancashire providing access to the extended schools full core offer of services, one of which, Harris Primary School, is located in the Ribble Valley. The core offer includes primary schools providing access to child care from 8 am-6 pm all year round in response to demand, all schools offering access to a range of activities beyond the school day, parenting support, swift and easy referral and opening up facilities to the wider community.
A number of schools in Lancashire are offering the extended hours elements of the core offer as shown in the following table:
| Phase | Number of schools delivering the child care element | Number of schools delivering the menu of activities element |
The following table shows a breakdown of schools by type in the Ribble Valley offering the extended hours elements of the core offer:
| Phase | Number of schools delivering the child care element | Number of schools delivering the menu of activities element |
By 2010 all schools in England will be offering the extended school core offer of services.
Schools: Construction
Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many new schools were built in each local authority area in each year since 1997; and which of these schools have a source of energy provided by on-site renewables. [132307]
Jim Knight: We do not currently have the data on how many new schools have been built in each local authority area in each year since 1997. We therefore do not know all of the schools which have a source of energy provided by on-site renewables but we do know of a few hundred schools that have a source of energy provided by on-site renewables.
Secondary Education: Curriculum
Mr. Gibb:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what alterations were made to the secondary curriculum programmes of study and level descriptions produced by the Qualifications and
Curriculum Authority (QCA) secondary curriculum review between their approval by the QCA board on 14 December 2006 and their publication. [131720]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority made minor alterations to a number of programmes of study and level descriptions between 14 December 2007 and 18 January 2007. The substantive alterations included:
Revisions to the mathematics programmes of study and level descriptions following consultation with a small group of mathematics experts;
Revisions to the science level descriptions following consultation with a small group of independent scientists;
An amendment to the Key Stage 3 science programme of study to include ‘conception’ as something which can be affected by diet, drugs and disease;
Revisions to the list of pre-twentieth century authors contained in the English programmes of study;
Adding a reference to the development of international institutions, including the European Union, in the Key Stage 3 history programme of study;
The inclusion of other major spoken world languages as well as European Union languages in the Key Stage 3 Modern Foreign Languages programme of study;
Adding a reference to the importance of marriage in family relationships the qualities of good parenting and its value to family life in the personal well-being programmes of study.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 21 February 2007, Official Report, columns 1817-18W, on Bishops Park college, what the evidential basis was for the statement that Bishops Park college's approach to the curriculum has been shown to be effective in (a) helping to improve staying on rates, (b) reducing the number of exclusions and teenage pregnancies and (c) increasing parental satisfaction. [131722]
Jim Knight: Bishop's Park college is part of a study from the National College of School Leadership Research Associate programme on staying-on rates, student pregnancies, exclusions and parental satisfaction. The college is one of over 1,000 schools that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority is working with to promote the use of a broad range of measures in judging the effectiveness of the curriculum.
I have requested a copy of the research from this programme and I will write separately to the hon. Gentleman with data about Bishop's Park college on receipt.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether he plans for pupils to be taught all the topics listed in the range and content sections of the revised National Curriculum programmes of study produced by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as part of the secondary curriculum review. [132176]
Jim Knight: The range and content sections in the revised programmes of study will be presented in two parts.
There will be one list of statutory content and a second list of recommended content. Pupils will be taught all of the topics in the statutory list. It will be for teachers to decide whether they will also teach some or all of the content from the recommended list.
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