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26 Apr 2007 : Column 1304W—continued

Central Government capital support for investment in schools has increased from under £700 million in
26 Apr 2007 : Column 1305W
1996-97 to £6.4 billion in 2007-08 and will rise further to £8.0 billion by 2010-11. Progress is being made year-by-year in improving the quality of the school building stock. Given the high levels of funding, authorities have the opportunity to replace temporary classrooms where they are considered to be unsuitable.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was spent on school buildings in each of the last 30 years at current prices. [133449]

Jim Knight: Expenditure on school buildings in England each year is determined by each local authority, using both resources both from the Department for Education and Skills and other resources available locally. Accordingly, no central records are kept of expenditure at local authority level. Capital allocations for school buildings and associated capital infrastructure in each of the last 30 years are set out in the following table, in £ billion.

These include ICT capital allocations and, from commencement in 1998-99, projects funded through PFI. Capital expenditure by local authorities will not necessarily be incurred in the year allocations are announced, owing to timing differences.

Allocation figures have been converted to current prices using the 2005-06 GDP deflator.

£ billion

1977-78

1.4

1978-79

1.3

1979-80

1.0

1980-81

1.1

1981-82

0.8

1982-83

0.7

1983-84

0.7

1984-85

0.7

1985-86

0.7

1986-87

0.7

1987-88

0.6

1988-89

0.8

1989-90

0.7

1990-91

0.8

1991-92

0.9

1992-93

1.0

1993-94

0.8

1994-95

0.8

1995-96

0.6

1996-97

0.7

1997-98

0.9

1998-99

1.1

1999-2000

1.2

2000-21

2.1

2001-22

2.1

2002-23

3.5

2003-24

4.1

2004-25

4.7

2005-26

5.6

2006-27

5.7



26 Apr 2007 : Column 1306W

Science: Higher Education

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) chemistry and (b) physics departments in English universities closed in each year since 1997. [133225]

Bill Rammell: Information on the closure, merger or opening of particular university departments is not collected by the Department. However, subjects like chemistry and physics are starting to become more popular and the measures we are taking to increase demand and the extra £75 million announced last year should help to sustain capacity as demand increases. Physics and chemistry are also taught as major subjects at some 50 and 70 UK institutions respectively. We have consistently made clear that if a physics or chemistry department closes at one institution, the Higher Education Funding Council for England should seek to maintain capacity elsewhere and we announced last year that the council should report to us on how provision can be maintained in this way.

Secondary Education: Urban Areas

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of extending the London Challenge to other areas of England. [132914]

Jim Knight: On 4 April 2007, I announced the extension of the London Challenge in London for at least a further three years. I also announced the expansion of a similarly focused London Challenge- type approach to two other parts of the country that face similar challenges to those which have afflicted the capital.

My decision is based on an assessment of the proven success of the London Challenge programme. Today, more than half of London’s pupils get five good GCSEs. London schools have outperformed the rest of the country for three years running and improvements have been seen in every London borough. Ofsted recently reinforced this assessment in its December report “Improvements in London Schools 2000-06”. The report recommended considering the model

Special Educational Needs Learners

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the success rates for special educational needs learners are for complete frameworks of (a) work-based learning, (b) further education, (c) adult and community learning and (d) school sixth forms levels 1 to 3 vocational programmes in each year since 1997. [111349]

Mr. Dhanda: Data on those assessed as having a special educational need (SEN) is not captured on the FE individualised learner record (ILR) databases that underpin the success rate figures produced by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). However, learner self-assessment of whether they have a learning difficulty, disability and/or health problem is recorded
26 Apr 2007 : Column 1307W
on the LSC’s learner data for learners participating in work-based learning, further education and adult and community learning.

In 2004-05 the national success rate for learners in LSC-funded FE provision with a self-declared learning difficulty, disability and/or health problem was 73 per cent. compared to 74 per cent. for those without. Comparable success rates for those in work-based learning or adult and community learning have not been calculated.

The self-declared information captured on the ILR is very different from the SEN status attributed during compulsory education against a national legitimate and agreed framework, so an analysis using solely the LSC’s learner data is deemed to be too inaccurate an approximation to provide a valid response to the question.


26 Apr 2007 : Column 1308W

Learner data for school sixth forms is currently not collected on the LSC’s ILR, so success rates can not be calculated. However, statisticians in the Department and the LSC are working to collect data which will enable the calculation of these success rates; a date for publication has not yet been agreed.

Special Educational Needs: Hartlepool

Mr. Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of children in Hartlepool (a) have special educational needs and (b) were educated in special schools in each year since 1997. [131362]

Mr. Dhanda: The information requested is shown in the table.

Number of pupils with special educational needs and number of pupils in special schools—position as at January each year: 1997 to 2006—Hartlepool local authority
All schools Special schools
Pupils with statements Pupils with SEN without a statement Total pupils
Total pupils Number Percentage( 1) Number Percentage( 1) Number Percentage( 2)

1997

17,038

383

2.2

2,474

14.5

238

1.4

1998

17,154

414

2.4

2,898

16.9

263

1.5

1999

17,263

431

2.5

3,146

18.2

262

1.5

2000

17,250

430

2.5

3,539

20.5

235

1.4

2001(3)

16,986

215

1.3

2002(4)

16,743

439

2.6

3,301

19.7

176

1.1

2003

16,695

431

2.6

2,612

15.6

158

0.9

2004

16,441

411

2.5

2,609

15.9

147

0.9

2005

16.157

383

2.4

2,762

17.1

138

0.9

2006

15,889

362

2.3

2,826

17.8

127

0.8

(1) Number of pupils with a statement of SEN or with SEN without a statement expressed as a proportion of the total number of pupils.
(2) The number of pupils in special schools expressed as a proportion of the total number of pupils in all schools.
(3) In 2001 estimates were made at a national level because the data for SEN are known to be incomplete, therefore local authority level data are not available.
(4) From 2002 SEN data may not comparable with previous years due to underlying changes in data collection.
Source:
School Census

Teachers: Termination of Employment

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many primary and secondary school teachers who have left the profession before completing five years of teaching in the last 10 years have not returned to teaching; [131266]

(2) how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers have left the profession before completing five years of teaching in the last 10 years, broken down by subject. [131267]

Jim Knight: The following table shows the number of full and part-time qualified teachers with less than five years recorded teaching service who left maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools in each year between 1995-96 and 2004-05. The number of these teachers who are recorded as not being in maintained sector service at March 2005 is also shown and the head count number of teachers in service each year. These figures include teachers who retired and are the latest information available. The information is not available broken down by subject.


26 Apr 2007 : Column 1309W

26 Apr 2007 : Column 1310W
Full and part-time teachers with less than five years recorded teaching service leaving service and those not returning( 1) 1994-95 to 2004-05
Thousand
Nursery and primary Secondary
Headcount numbers in service( 2) Numbers left service( 3) Numbers not returned to service( 4,5) Headcount numbers in service( 2) Numbers left service( 3) Numbers not returned to service( 4,5)

1994-95

216.0

3.3

2.2

212.0

3.3

2.4

1995-96

217.8

3.4

2.2

209.6

3.8

2.8

1996-97

218.3

3.3

2,2

209.8

3.5

2.5

1997-98

217.4

3.8

2.5

209.4

3.9

2.8

1998-99

219.5

4.4

2.8

212.1

4.5

3.2

1999-2000

223.7

4.3

2.7

213.5

4.5

3.1

2000-01

227.7

4.3

2.7

218.1

4.8

3.3

2001-02

229.1

4.2

2.7

224.4

4.7

3.3

2002-03

227.6

5.1

3.5

227.3

5.2

3.8

2003-04(5)

219.2

4.6

3.0

226.5

5.2

3.6

2004-05(5)

220.3

3.7

3.7

230.9

4.4

4.4

2006

224.4

232.3

(1) Teachers leaving service will be counted in each year in which they left and therefore some will be counted more than once if they re-enter service and subsequently leave. An overall estimate of teachers leaving during the 10 year period is not therefore available. In addition teachers who have left service may not have done so permanently. This affects the later years in the series particularly. The increasing trend in teachers shown not returning to service does not necessarily reveal an actual increase in the proportion of teachers leaving service permanently with less than five years service.
(2) January of each year. These figures include unqualified teachers.
(3) Teachers recorded as out of maintained sector service in England at the end of the year shown.
(4) Teachers remaining out of maintained sector service in England at March 2005.
(5) Provisional.
Source:
Database of Teacher Records (teachers leaving service) and form 618g survey (teachers in service).

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