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17 May 2007 : Column 850W—continued
Departments: Internet
Mrs. May: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills for which Government websites he is responsible; how many visitors each received in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the cost (a) was of establishing and (b) has been of maintaining each site. [135734]
Mr. Dhanda: The Department runs 25 main Government websites (URL domains). In addition the Department operates a number of sub-sites falling under the main domains.
There would be a disproportionate cost to provide the further information requested.
The Department is working towards consolidation of all its websites. Public-facing content is being migrated to Directgov and business content to Businesslink.
Education: Per Capita Costs
Derek Conway: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much was allocated per capita by his Department to pupils in (a) City of London, (b) the London borough of Bexley and (c) England in (i) 2005-06 and (ii) 2006-07; and what formula was used for such allocations. [123592]
Jim Knight: The per capita allocations for City of London, London borough of Bexley and England in 2005-06 and 2006-07 are set out as follows. Please note that it is wrong to compare funding per pupil in Bexley with City of London as the City of London:
has the highest wage costs in the country;
is the smallest authority in the country so is unable to take advantage of economies of scale; and
draws its pupils from deprived backgrounds.
| £ | ||
| 2005-06 EFS | 2006-07 DSG | |
| Note: In 2005-06 local authority funding was based on Education Formula Spending (EPS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement. The introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded. In addition, DSG has a different coverage to EFS: EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG’s Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. | ||
In 2005-06 school funding was part of the local government finance system. School funding was split into four blocks: primary; secondary; under fives; and high-cost pupils. The formula for each block included a basic amount per pupil with an area cost adjustment uplift. The primary, secondary and under five blocks also included an element for pupils with additional educational needs, defined as pupils with: English as an additional language/ethnicity; working families tax credit; and income support. The primary block also had an element to reflect sparsity.
Each local authority’s total Dedicated Schools Grant for 2006-07 was calculated by multiplying their full-time equivalent pupil numbers (aged 3-15) from the January 2006 pupil count by their Dedicated Schools Grant Guaranteed Unit of Funding (the Dedicated Schools Grant Guaranteed Unit of Funding is unchanged from that set in
The Dedicated Schools Grant Guaranteed Unit of Funding for 2006-07 was based on spend per pupil in 2005-06, with a basic increase of 5 per cent. per pupil (5.1 per cent. for London authorities) and headroom allocated to reflect five ministerial priorities. £30 million was also distributed between authorities who spent below the level of undamped Schools Formula Sending Share in 2005-06.
Faith Schools: Admissions
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 9 May 2007, Official Report, column 254W, on faith schools: admissions, (1) if he will make it his policy to collect information on those faith schools in (a) Birmingham, (b) the West Midlands and (c) England which do not give priority to children of their faith; [137362]
(2) what the evidential basis was for the statement in his recent letter to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Selly Oak that not all schools with a religious character give priority in admissions to children of their faith. [137363]
Jim Knight: The admission arrangements for maintained schools are consulted on and determined each year by the relevant admission authority. This information is published annually by each local authority for all schools in their area in their composite prospectus for parents. We do not collect this information centrally and have no plans to do so. Through discussions with local authorities, schools and faith providers, we know that practices vary widely and that a number of schools with a religious character do not give priority in admissions to children on the basis of their faith and others offer a proportion of places to children without reference to faith.
Higher Education: Admissions
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many entrants to university undergraduate courses came from Regent’s Park and Kensington North in each of the last five years. [137762]
Bill Rammell: The latest available information is shown in the following tables. Figures for 2006/07 will be available in January 2008.
Home Education
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate his Department has made of the number of children who are educated out of school in 2006-07. [137039]
Jim Knight [Holding answer 16 May 2007]: Local authorities arrange for education out of school in pupil referral units and other settings. The DFES annual census shows that in January 2006 23,670 pupils were educated in pupil referral units. In addition, a further 12,750 received tuition at home, in community homes, at further education colleges, or with voluntary section providers.
We do not collect information about the number of children whose education is arranged by their parents. A recent study on the prevalence of home education in England, conducted by York Consulting, estimated that there were around 16,000 children being educated
at home that were known to the local authority. We have not made any estimate of the number of home educated children that are not known to their local authority.
League Tables
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of 15-year-olds (a) took and (b) achieved A*-C in at least one course within the entitlement area as defined by section 85A of the Education Act 2002 of (i) arts, (ii) design and technology, (iii) humanities and (iv) modern foreign languages in each year since 1997. [117405]
Jim Knight: The available information is shown in the tables.
The information for the proportion attempting and gaining grades A*-C at GCSE in modern foreign languages is available only at a disproportionate cost. This is because it would involve calculating how many pupils took and achieved grades A*-C in at least one modern foreign language. The data readily available only consider the number of attempts by all pupils and the number of these to achieve grades A*-C, meaning that there would be double counting for pupils that took more than one modern foreign language GCSE.
Information provided for Design and Technology, Humanities and Art and Design are classified as single subjects and therefore double counting does not apply.
| GCSE and equivalent attempts and achievements, 1997 to 2006( 1, 2) in England— Nu mber of pupils | ||||||||
| Design and Technology | Humanities | Art and Design | Modern Foreign Languages( 3) | |||||
| Number of pupils entered for GCSE | Number achieved grades A*-C | Number of pupils entered for GCSE | Number achieved grades A*-C | Number of pupils entered for GCSE | Number achieved grades A*-C | Number of pupils entered for GCSE | Number achieved grades A*-C | |
| (1) Including attempts and achievements in previous academic years. (2) Number of pupils on roll aged 15 at the start of the academic year. (3) Pupils who take more than one language will be double-counted. (4) Figures for 2005-06 are revised, all other figures are final. | ||||||||
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