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10 May 2007 : Column 359W—continued
Departmental Publications
Martin Horwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will publish the report commissioned by his Department entitled, “Getting It. Getting It Right”; and if he will make a statement. [117959]
Jim Knight: The Department published “Getting It. Getting It Right”, a priority review on black pupil exclusions on 2 March 2007. The report is available in the House of Commons Library and at
Diplomas for England
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Diplomas for England are recognised by universities and colleges as entry qualifications; and whether agreement has been reached with those institutions. [134543]
Jim Knight: All Diplomas at Level 3 are being designed to give progression routes into Higher Education including Honours Degrees. Higher Education Institutions are members of the Diploma Development Partnerships developing the qualifications and are participating in the Local Consortiums which will be delivering the Diplomas. Four champions have agreed to promote the Diplomas, two from the HE sector. Deian Hopkin, Vice Chancellor, London South Bank University and Michael Arthur, Vice Chancellor, Leeds University are working to raise awareness and improve understanding of the reforms across the HE sector.
A Higher Education Engagement Project Board with representation from each of the university groupings within the HE sector and FE has been set up to promote an understanding of the 14-19 reforms and to encourage the HE and FE sector to become involved in Diplomas. Diplomas have received “in principle” support from most HEIs. We do not expect HEIs to confirm their support until they have had the
opportunity to see the content of the Diplomas in detail. The Board is also supporting a number of projects to map the Level 3 Diploma curriculums against degree courses and to illustrate progression pathways as well as working with UCAS to determine an appropriate point score.
English Language
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people are on the waiting list for English for Speakers of Other Languages in (a) England and (b) each London borough. [131009]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 16 April 2007]: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) is not required to collect waiting list data, and as such does not ask that all providers maintain such lists. Some providers will maintain their own lists and local LSC partnership and regional LSC teams sometimes review these individual lists. We are therefore unable to provide the number of people on waiting lists nationally.
Anecdotal evidence, further supported by the recent Race Equality Impact Assessment, indicates that waiting lists in parts of the country are as much as two years in London and 18 months elsewhere.
Further Education: Construction
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Learning and Skills Council has to work with the Building Research Establishment on a methodology for the environmental assessment of capital development projects in the further education sector; and if he will make a statement. [134437]
Bill Rammell [holding answer 8 May 2007]: The Learning and Skills Council and Building Research Establishment (BRE) have recently agreed proposals for BRE to develop a dedicated Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) which will simplify the basis upon which FE colleges can obtain environmental assessments for their capital projects. These new arrangements should be operational by the early autumn. Colleges will be able to use BREEAM rather than commissioning individual assessments, which will bring the assessment cost down significantly from an average of £25,000 to £23,000 per project.
GCE A Level
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average A-level points score per pupil was for 11 to 18 years schools with sixth forms containing (a) 50 or fewer, (b) 51 to 100, (c) 101 to 150, (d) 151 to 200, (e) 201 to 250 and (f) more than 250 pupils in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [127637]
Jim Knight: The information requested is in the following table.
| Average GCE/VCE A-Level and equivalent points score per pupil( 1) by size of sixth form in England | |||
| Number of s tudents in s ixth f orm | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06( 2) |
| (1) 16-18 year olds. (2) The point scoring system changed in 2005-06, i.e. figures for 2005-06 are not comparable to previous years. | |||
GCSE: Standards
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools have more than 50 per cent. of pupils receiving free school meals; and how many and what proportion of pupils in those schools did not achieve (a) five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and mathematics, (b) five A* to G grades at GCSE and (c) any GCSEs in the last school year for which figures are available. [133243]
Jim Knight: In 2005/06, 181 schools had more than 50 per cent. of pupils receiving free school meals. The figures(1,2) requested for these schools are given in the following table.
(1) Includes those schools with results published in the Achievement and Attainment tables.
(2) Includes all maintained schools. Independent schools are not included as this data is not readily available.
International Education Strategy
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will report recent progress on the implementation proposals for the International Education strategy. [130324]
Bill Rammell: Implementation of the International Education Strategy is ongoing and there has been progress recently on a number of fronts. For example, building on the success of the first phase of the Prime Minister’s Initiative (PMI) to increase student numbers by 75,000 (which was exceeded ahead of schedule), the Prime Minister last year launched a second phase with even more stretching targets to be achieved by 2011. These include an increase of a further 100,000 international students, to double the number of countries sending more than 10,000 students p.a. to the UK and to see a demonstrable improvement to student satisfaction ratings in the UK.
We are also making progress against our objectives in multilateral forums. Within the European Union, for example, we are working with other member states and the Commission to develop the role of education and
skills in achieving the Lisbon goals of jobs and growth. At the EU Education Council of November 2006, a UK-driven proposal for a compendium of good practice on Higher Education won widespread support. The Commission and member states are taking forward this proposal within the framework of the EU Peer Learning Cluster on Modernizing Higher Education.
The Department remains committed to the implementation of actions under the International Strategy.
Languages
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 20 February 2007, Official Report, column 705W, on language courses, how many (a) special and (b) independent schools entered no pupils for a GCSE in (i) history, (ii) geography and (iii) a modern foreign language in each year since 1996. [123178]
Jim Knight: The information requested is given in the following tables.
| Number of schools where no pupils( 1) were entered for History GCSE | |||
| Independent schools | Special schools( 2) | Independent special schools | |
| (1 )Aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year, i.e. 31 August. (2) Special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools and non-maintained special schools. | |||
| Number of schools where no pupils( 1) were entered for Geography GCSE | |||
| Independent schools | Special schools( 2) | Independent special schools | |
| (1 )Aged 15 at the beginning of the academic year, i.e. 31 August. (2) Special schools includes community special schools, foundation special schools and non-maintained special schools. | |||
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