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4 Jun 2007 : Column 128W—continued

Pupil Exclusions: Maintained Schools

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills in how many maintained mainstream schools more than (a) 10 per cent., (b) 15 per cent., (c) 20 per cent., (d) 25 per cent. and (e) 30 per cent. of pupils have been excluded. [133242]

Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table.

4 Jun 2007 : Column 129W

Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : Number of schools by proportion of school population excluded for a fixed period, England, 2004-05
	Schools reporting one or more fixed period exclusion
	Number	Percentage( 2)
Schools where percentage of school population excluded for a fixed period is( 3) :
Up to and including 10.0 per cent.	8,823	42.0
10.1 to 15.0 per cent.	723	3.4
15.1 to 20.0 per cent.	373	1.8
20.1 to 25.0 per cent.	186	0.9
25.1 to 30 per cent.	113	0.5
30.1 per cent. or more	192	0.9
Unclassified( 4)	96	0.5
Total	10,506	50.0
(1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Number of schools in each band expressed as a percentage of the total number of schools as at January 2005. (3) The number of fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils on roll as at January 2005 (derived from School Census returns). (4) School population figure could not be established. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census.

Pupil Referral Units: Special Educational Needs

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils with (a) moderate learning difficulties, (b) emotional, behavioural and social difficulties, (c) multi-sensory impairment, (d) physical disability, (e) profound and multiple learning difficulty, (f) severe learning difficulty, (g) specific learning difficulty, (h) visual impairment and (i) hearing impairment (i) with statements and (ii) without statements were registered in pupil referral units at some point during each year from 1997 to 2006, broken down by local authority. [133856]

Jim Knight: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many applications for authorised absences for holidays during term time were made to (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in each of the last five years. [136670]

4 Jun 2007 : Column 130W

Jim Knight: The Department has just started to collect information on the reason for pupil absence relating to the autumn 2006 term.

Findings relating to the full 2006/07 school year are expected to be released via a National Statistics publication in February 2008.

Pupils: Apprentices

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what provision the Government make for apprenticeships to give school pupils access to one day or more training every week in a work-type setting. [139887]

Phil Hope: Young Apprenticeships give motivated 14 to 16 year-olds the opportunity to pursue industry-specific level 2 vocational qualifications outside of school and in partnership with employers. Learning is a combination of classroom delivery in colleges and direct application in a real working environment, including 50 days work experience. The programme has expanded from the first cohort of 1,000 pupils in 2004-5 to 13,300 on Young Apprenticeships in 2007-8 across a range of sectors.

The KS4 Engagement Programme provides 14 to 16 year-olds at risk of disengagement from education with up to two days a week work-focused learning delivered through a range of college classrooms and work-simulation environments and through work experience with local employers. This programme began in 2006-7 with 6,000 learners and is expanding to 15,300 in 2007-8.

Pupils: East Sussex

Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many admissions appeals were (a) heard and (b) successful for pupils in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) East Sussex in each year since 1997. [138024]

Jim Knight: Data on heard and successful admissions appeals for East Sussex local authority are given in the following table. Data are not available for Eastbourne as they are not collected at this level.

Appeals lodged by parents against non-admission of their children primary schools
	Primary schools				Secondary schools
	East Sussex		England( 1)		East Sussex		England( 1)
	Appeals heard	Appeals decided in parent’s favour	Appeals heard	Appeals decided in parent’s favour	Appeals heard	Appeals decided in parent’s favour	Appeals heard	Appeals decided in parent’s favour
1997/98	106	52	20,180	9,560	95	43	32,980	10,720
1998/99	156	63	21,220	9,340	157	54	38,960	12,640
1999/2000	146	37	18,710	7,290	273	104	43,940	14,180
2000/01	101	24	17,510	6,210	225	60	46,370	14,990
2001/02	81	9	16,160	5,510	230	68	49,980	16,220
2002/03	68	14	13,760	4,540	192	50	50,200	16,820
2003/04	91	5	13,180	4,340	227	74	46,480	16,290
2004/05	61	9	13,600	4,700	323	109	45,730	16,340
(1) National totals have been rounded to the nearest 10.

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Mr. Waterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many unauthorised absences were recorded in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) East Sussex in each year since 1997, broken down by type of institution. [138027]

Jim Knight: The percentages of half days missed due to unauthorised absence from maintained mainstream schools in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Eastbourne and (ii) East Sussex in each year since 1997 is shown as follows:

Unauthorised pupil absence (percentage of half days missed) in maintained primary schools( 1) ,( ) 1997/98-2005/06( 2,3)
	Eastbourne	East Sussex	England
1997/98	0.5	0.4	0.5
1998/99	0.6	0.4	0.5
1999/2000	0.5	0.4	0.5
2000/01	0.6	0.5	0.5
2001/02	0.6	0.37	0.45
2002/03	0.6	0.41	0.43
2003/04	0.8	0.53	0.41
2004/05	0.8	0.77	0.43

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Unauthorised pupil absence (percentage of half days missed) in maintained secondary schools( 1) , 1997/98-2005/06( 2,3)
	Eastbourne	East Sussex	England
1997/98	0.8	1.3	1.1
1998/99	0.9	1.1	1.1
1999/2000	1.1	1.2	1.0
2000/01	1.2	1.2	1.1
2001/02	1.2	1.41	1.09
2002/03	2.0	1.35	1.07
2003/04	2.2	1.41	1.13
2004/05	1.7	1.34	1.23
(1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. (3) Figures for the above local authorities are available to one decimal place prior to 2001/02 and two decimal places from 2001/02 onwards.

To break the information down by type of institution as requested can be provided only at a disproportionate cost.

Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy.

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