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23 Apr 2007 : Column 940W—continued
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average expenditure per pupil was in (a) primary and (b) secondary education in (i) each region and (ii) each London borough in each of the last 10 years. [132645]
Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the House Library.
School Leaving: Employment
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in each of the regions who left school in 2006 (a) have secured full-time employment, (b) have secured part-time employment, (c) are on a training scheme and (d) are unemployed. [132445]
Jim Knight: The following table gives the number and percentage of 16-year-olds by region, who have finished compulsory education who are (a) in employment, (b) on a Government-supported training scheme, and (c) not settled.
The figures relate to the activity of schools leavers on 1 November 2006, and are for all 16-year-olds resident in that region who have finished compulsory education.
Those in part-time employment and unemployed cannot be separated out. They are in the ‘not settled’ group which includes: all unemployed, those in part-time employment or training, those who are not available to the labour market, refugees and asylum seekers not yet granted residency and those in custodial sentence.
School Sports Partnerships
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what level of funding will be available to school sport partnerships beyond 2008; [132611]
(2) what advice the Youth Sports Trust will provide to schools about school sport partnerships beyond 2008. [132612]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 April 2007]: The Department for Education and Skill's Comprehensive Spending Review settlement is currently being reviewed by the Secretary of State.
The ambition is that by 2010, all young people will be offered at least four hours of sport every week. This will comprise at least two hours of PE and sport during the school day and at least an additional two to three hours of sport beyond the school day (delivered by a range of school, community and club providers). The Youth Sport trust will continue to support school sport partnerships—which include every maintained school in England to achieve this.
Schools: Greater London
Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department has taken to improve the performance of schools in the London Borough of Sutton since 1997. [132647]
Jim Knight: Schools in the London borough of Sutton have achieved a substantial rise in standards across all Key Stages since 1997 and performance levels are well above the national average. The proportion of 11-year-olds reaching the target level 4+ as measured by the National Curriculum tests for 2006 has risen by 13 percentage points to 83 per cent. in English and by 13 percentage points to 79 per cent. in mathematics. The proportion of pupils achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE and equivalents has improved by 15.8 percentage points to 70.5 per cent. in 2006. The proportion of pupils achieving five A*-C grades including GCSE English and mathematics has also improved by 15.4 percentage points to 62.7 per cent. in 2006.
Since 1997 four schools only in Sutton have been in special measures and there are currently no schools in an Ofsted category.
The Government's London Challenge programme and the National Strategies have worked with Sutton to improve school performance. In addition to support through the Standards Fund for literacy and numeracy consultants to work directly with schools to improve teaching and learning in the core subjects and targeted National Strategies support for teaching materials and teachers’ continuing professional development, Sutton has received:
Direct support for two schools through the Keys to Success programme; providing access to expert advice from a London Challenge Adviser to help prioritise areas for improvement and put together bespoke improvement packages.
Access to an expert adviser for four schools as part of the London Challenge underperformance collaborative to improve borderline students’ performance at GCSE.
Inclusion of one school in the English and Maths Challenge initiative to improve standards in English and mathematics in target secondary schools.
Taking part in a London Challenge ICT project to help schools develop their ICT strategies further based on their priorities for school improvement.
Around 1,350 teachers have registered as working towards Chartered London Teacher status in Sutton Schools.
Sutton schools have also benefited from:
KS2-3 transition projects.
Student Pledge—opportunities for London students to gain a variety of rich experiences out of school.
The Training and Development Agency has worked with Sutton to support the roll out of extended schools in their area. Sutton has received £2.2 million over the period 2005-08 to take forward this work which will support pupils achieve their full potential by providing access through schools to services such as study support, parenting support programmes, child care, and links to multi agency support.
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. [132408]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 April 2007]: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 10 April 2007.
Teachers: Pensions
David Maclean:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many stakeholders were consulted during the formal consultation with
stakeholder representatives on the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme between November 2005 and February 2006; [131041]
(2) how the stakeholders consulted during the formal consultation on Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme were selected; [131042]
(3) what steps were taken to ensure that stakeholders with a relevant interest were consulted during formal consultations on the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme; and how many scheme members were consulted; [131043]
(4) what conclusions the Department has drawn from the responses given by members of the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme to formal consultation on changes to the scheme; [131044]
(5) what estimates he has made of the cost of consulting members of the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme on the proposed changes to the scheme, broken down by main budget heading; [131045]
(6) what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing the flexibilities permitted by A-Day regulations in relation to the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme; [131046]
(7) if his Department will undertake further consultations of the membership of the Teacher's Additional Voluntary Contribution Pension Scheme following changes introduced by A-Day regulations. [131047]
Jim Knight: The consultation on amendments to the Teachers' Additional Voluntary Contribution (TAVC) arrangements was conducted in accordance with the requirements of the Superannuation Act 1972. Consultees included teacher and lecturer unions, representatives of employer organisations and a wide range of other interested parties, including the managers of other public service pension schemes. The official consultation list contained 86 different organisations at the time of the A-Day changes and the consultation was also placed on the TeacherNet website with an invitation to any individual to respond. From the responses received, the Department concluded that the revised arrangements for the Teachers’ Additional Voluntary Contribution Scheme are currently appropriate for the teaching/lecturing workforce, although, as a matter of course, any further possible changes that could appropriately be introduced are noted for inclusion in a subsequent set of amending regulations.
No estimate of the cost of any Teachers' Pension Scheme consultation has been made. Nor have our TAVC providers, Prudential, estimated the costs to them of the implementation of A-Day flexibilities, although they will have incurred some administrative costs. Prudential has not sought to recoup any of these costs from members through any change to the annual management charge that is applied to TAVC contracts. The only exception, because of the significant amount of extra work involved, has been to apply an administration fee to cover costs to process transfers-out of accumulated funds independently from the main scheme for those who have had service after A-Day, although this has affected relatively few members.
In addition to the A-Day amending regulations, the Teachers' Additional Voluntary Contribution Scheme has recently been further amended as part of a major review of the teachers' pension package. Both sets of regulations were subject to wide consultation and received overwhelming support from those who responded. All mandatory changes to the IPS required by A-Day legislation have been implemented and there are no plans to undertake another specific A-Day consultation. However a regulatory consolidation exercise is under way which will result in a further consultation taking place within the next 12 months or so. It is not possible to say at this stage whether further permissive changes arising from A-Day legislation will be included within that consultation.
Written Questions
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when he expects to answer Question (a) 126831 and (b) 126832, on GCSEs, tabled on 7 March by the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. [132236]
Jim Knight: A reply was issued to the hon. Member’s questions 126831 on 17 April 2007, Official Report, columns 548-49W and to 126832 on 17 April 2007, Official Report, columns 549-52W.
Trade and Industry
Business: EC Action
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what financial support is provided by the European Union to UK representative business groups; and if he will make a statement. [133073]
Mr. McCartney: There is no specific allocation in the EU budget for supporting national representative business groups, and we are not aware that the EU has provided any significant financial support to such organisations. It is possible that individual UK business organisations may have benefited from EU grants to support specific activities but such details could be established only at disproportionate cost.
Counterfeit Manufacturing: Internet
Mr. Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding is available to trading standards officers to help combat internet piracy. [130831]
Mr. McCartney: The funding and resourcing of trading standards is determined by their respective local authority. This will cover the enforcement of a wide range of legislation some of which aims to combat internet piracy.
Additional funding of £4.86 million (£4.191 million in England, £0.423 million in Scotland and £0.246 million in Wales) has been made available in 2007-8 for trading standards officers to accompany the commencement of s107a and s198a of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act. These new powers relate to counterfeiting and piracy enforcement both physical and on the internet.
In addition, funding of £895,000 a year for two years in 2006-07 and 2007-08 is available to pilot specialist scambuster teams to work across local authority boundaries within a region targeting the worse rogue trading practices and scams which are often beyond the capacity of an individual local authority to deal with. Pilots are running in the north east, central England and across south east, east and London. The pilots will target different rogue trading practices depending on intelligence received and regional priorities, this may include those using the internet to defraud business and consumers.
A further £1.2 million is available over two years in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to Trading Standards to fund a regional intelligence capability to help use intelligence to inform enforcement activity.
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