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2 May 2007 : Column 1762W—continued


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The latest figures from UCAS for students applying to enter full-time undergraduate courses in 2007 show that applications for these subjects have risen significantly: Physics is up by 12 per cent., Mathematics by 10 per cent. and most of the engineering subjects are also up including chemical engineering (by 16 per cent.), Civil engineering (by 13 per cent.) and Mechanical engineering (by 8 per cent.).

Higher Education: Scholarships

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many and what percentage of UK higher education institutions spent their full budgeted levels on income-assessed non-repayable bursaries for undergraduate students in each year since 1996; [131418]

(2) what estimates have been made of the total value of unclaimed non-repayable bursaries and scholarships for students at higher education institutions in each year since 2001. [131427]

Bill Rammell [holding answer 16 April 2007]: The Department does not have these figures. Prior to 2006/07 bursaries were solely a matter for individual HE institutions and information was not collected centrally.

However, we are aware that following the introduction of access agreements in 2006, Higher Education Institutions have budgeted to spend in excess of £300 million on bursaries and scholarships benefiting students from low-income backgrounds and other underrepresented groups by 2010/11. The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is responsible for the annual monitoring of access agreements from academic year 2006/07 and will report on the outcome in autumn/winter 2007.

As I said in the Higher Education debate on 15 March 2007, Official Report, column 483, I am aware that some concerns have been raised about a potential underspend on bursaries in some universities. I am monitoring that situation very closely and encourage any universities forecasting a genuine underspend on bursaries to invest in other measures to improve social inclusion. However, I am also aware that the scale of the underspend has been exaggerated in some reports.

Higher and Further Education: Student Numbers

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many young people were in (a) higher education and (b) further education in each of the last 20 years. [133356]

Bill Rammell [holding answer 23 April 2007]: The latest available information on young students is given in the tables.

(a) Higher e ducation


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Number of young( 1) UK domiciled students enrolled on higher education courses at higher and further education institutions( 2) in Great Britain academic years 1986/87 to 2005/06
Academic year Higher education

1986/87

359,450

1987/88

364,200

1988/89

368,485

1989/90

388,930

1990/91

414,565

1991/92

454,245

1992/93

489,260

1993/94

516,745

1994/95

532,335

1995/96

537,295

1996/97

550,030

1997/98

576,175

1998/99

601,275

1999/2000

617,925

2000/01

622,395

2001/02

627,600

2002/03

635,885

2003/04

646,460

2004/05 (3)

655,155

2005/06 (3)

678,350

(1) Young refers to students under the age of 21.
(2) Includes the Open University.
(3) Includes provisional estimates for HE students in further education colleges using 2003/04 data.
Note:
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5.
Source:
Universities Statistical Record (USR), the Open University, and the Education Departments of England, Scotland and Wales for the years up to 1993/94; Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Learning and Skills Council, Scottish Executive, and Welsh Assembly for 1994/95 and later years.

(b) Further Education

Number of young( 1 ) people enrolled on LSC-funded( 2) FE provision academic years 1994/95( 3) to 2005/06
Academic year Further education

1994/95

625,600

1995/96

631,200

1996/97

676,300

1997/98

672,000

1998/99

645,800

1999/2000

634,100

2000/01

625,000

2001/02

647,100

2002/03

687,100

2003/04

699,200

2004/05

727,100

2005/06

744,000

(1) Young refers to students under the age of 19.
(2) Prior to 2001 further education provision was funded by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC)
(3) The Further and Higher Education Act 1992 had the effect of incorporating FE colleges and Sixth Form colleges formerly maintained by LAs making them eligible to receive funds from the FEFC. As a result, data collections changed, and data on enrolments in FE are not available on a comparable basis prior to 1994/95.
Source:
1994/95 to 1995/96—FEFC: Student Statistics ISR/SFR22; 1996/97 to 2005/06—LSC Statistical First Release: ILR/SFR11 Further Education, Work Based Learning and Adult and Community Learning—Learner Numbers in England 2005/06.

Higher Education: Student Wastage

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students started an undergraduate degree course which they then failed to complete in each year since 1997. [131643]


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Bill Rammell: The latest available figures are shown in the table.

Proportion of UK-domiciled entrants to full-time first degree courses at higher education institutions in England, who are projected to neither obtain an award nor transfer to another course.
Proportion to neither obtain award nor transfer

1997-98

15.8

1998-99

15.8

1999-2000

15.9

2000-01

15.0

2001-02

13.8

2002-03

13.9

2003-04

14.4

Source: “Performance Indicators in Higher Education” published by HESA.

The figure for 2004-05 will become available by the end of July 2007.

According to figures published by the OECD, the overall completion rate in UK universities and colleges of higher education is amongst the highest in the OECD countries.

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the drop-out rate from degree level courses was in 2006. [133215]

Bill Rammell: Drop-out rates from degree level courses are given in table T5 of the performance Indicators in Higher Education, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). In 2003/04, the proportion of UK-domiciled entrants to full-time first degree courses at higher education institutions in England, who were projected to neither obtain an award nor transfer to another course, was 14.4 per cent., compared to a figure of 15.0 per cent. in 2000/01.

The 2003/04 figure is the latest available: the 2004/05 figure will become available in July 2007.

According to figures published by the OECD, the overall completion rate in UK universities and colleges of higher education is among the highest in the OECD countries.

Home Start: Cotswolds

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what funding is available for Home-Start in the Cotswolds; and if he will make a statement. [133888]

Mr. Dhanda: The Department does not directly fund Home-Start in the Cotswolds. The DfES has supported the national body, Home-Start UK since 2001 and is providing a strategic grant of £2.73 million in the current 2007-08 financial year. The grant to Home-Start UK is specifically to support capacity building activities of Home-Start UK services in England including national and regional staffing, training, and dissemination of resources to support the coverage of local scheme home visiting services.

Jean Monnet Programme

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the budget is of the European Union's Jean Monnet programme for 2007-08. [133549]


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Bill Rammell: The European Union uses the calendar year for its financial calculations. For 2007, the European Commission's ex ante (forecast) budget for the Jean Monnet programme is €4,411,044.

Pupils: Age

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) if he will make a statement on the rules regarding school starting age for children; [133767]

(2) what steps he is taking to ensure that parents are informed that it is not compulsory for a child to attend school until the term after his or her fifth birthday. [133768]

Jim Knight: Children become of compulsory school age at the start of the school term after they reach the age of five. Admission authorities may allow children to start school before they reach compulsory school age but, if they do so, parents offered a place at the school may ask that the date that their child is admitted be deferred until later in the school year or until he or she reaches compulsory school age in that school year. Where parents choose this option the place offered to them must be kept open and cannot be offered to another child. The school admissions code requires that this be made clear in published admission arrangements

Local authorities have a duty to provide advice and assistance to all parents in their area when they are choosing schools for their children and are required to publish a composite prospectus for parents each year with information about all the admission arrangements of all schools in their area. This includes admission to reception classes and the right parents have to request that admission be deferred.

School Milk

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many litres of milk were provided by the free school milk scheme per eligible pupil in England over the last 12 months. [128382]

Mr. Dhanda: This Department does not collect data on school milk provision in schools.

Local authorities (LAs) are not obliged to provide milk, but where they do so they must provide it free of charge to pupils entitled to receive a free school lunch.

LAs are free to make use of the EU school milk subsidy scheme (the subsidy), which reduces the cost of milk purchased in nursery and primary schools. Use of the subsidy makes milk more affordable to those parents who purchase school milk and reduces the cost to LAs of free milk provision.

Special Needs Education

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent assessment he has made of special needs education in mainstream schools in England. [134768]

Mr. Dhanda: In October 2006 the Government published their response to the report from the Education and Skills Committee on special educational needs (SEN). The response referred to Ofsted’s report
2 May 2007 : Column 1767W
“Inclusion: does it matter where pupils are taught?” (July 2006) which showed significant improvements in SEN provision since publication of Ofsted’s 2004 survey “Special Educational Needs and Disability: towards inclusive schools?”

Ofsted’s 2006 report found that there was little difference in the quality of provision and outcomes for pupils across primary, secondary and special schools. It added, however, that mainstream schools with additionally resourced provision were particularly successful in achieving high outcomes for pupils academically, socially and personally. High quality, specialist teachers and a commitment by leaders to create opportunities to include all pupils were the keys to success but the report noted that pupils in mainstream schools where support from teaching assistants was the main type of provision were less likely to make good academic progress than those who had access to specialist teaching.

The Government’s response to the Select Committee noted that Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools had been asked to review progress on SEN provision in 2009/10. Her review will include reporting on the progress made under the Government's SEN strategy, “Removing Barriers to Achievement”, in building teachers’ skills in providing for children with SEN.

Special Educational Needs: Autism

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what statutory provisions are in place to ensure that children with autistic spectrum disorder have access to a teacher with a formal qualification in teaching children with autistic spectrum disorder; [132880]

(2) how many teachers in (a) mainstream maintained schools, (b) maintained special schools and (c) non-maintained special schools have a formal qualification in teaching children with autistic spectrum disorder; [132881]

(3) what funding the Government provided to assist teachers in gaining higher qualifications to teach children with autistic spectrum disorder in each year from 1997 to 2006. [132882]

Mr. Dhanda: There is no statutory requirement for children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) to have access to a teacher with a formal qualification in teaching children with ASDs.

The non-statutory ASDs Good Practice Guidance (DfES/DH, 2002) advised that "all those who plan or provide for children with an ASD should have some knowledge and understanding of autism". The Department does not keep records centrally of how many teachers have a formal qualification in teaching children with ASDs.


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