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6 Jun 2007 : Column 506W—continued
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils with (a) a statement of special educational needs and (b) special educational needs but no statement were (i) permanently excluded and (ii) given a fixed period exclusion from pupil referral units in each year between 1997 and 2006. [139531]
Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table.
The first year for which information on exclusions from pupil referral units is available relates to the 2003/04 academic year. Data on exclusions from pupil referral units were collected retrospectively via the Termly Exclusions Survey. Exclusions data for 2004/05 academic year were published in June 2006.
The Termly Exclusions Survey has now discontinued so data on exclusions from pupil referral units in 2005/06 are not available.
| Pupil referral units: number and percentage of permanent and fixed period exclusions by special educational needs (SEN) 2003/04 and 2004/05, England | ||||||||
| Number of exclusions( 1) | ||||||||
| Permanent exclusions | Fixed period exclusions | |||||||
| 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | |||||
| Number( 2) | Percentage( 3) | Number( 2) | Percentage( 3) | Number( 2) | Percentage( 3) | Number( 2) | Percentage( 3) | |
| (1) Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. (2 )Figures refer to the cases of exclusion rather than the number of pupils excluded as some pupils were excluded more than once during the year. (3) The number of exclusions expressed as a percentage of the school population (includes solely registered pupils and pupils with other providers) supported at same stage of SEN. School population data are as at January. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census | ||||||||
Pupil Referral Units
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what percentage of pupils at pupil referral units achieved at GCSE (a) five A* to G, (b) five A* to G including English and mathematics, (c) five A* to G excluding equivalents, (d) five A* to G including English and mathematics, but excluding equivalents and (e) any passes in each year between 1997 and 2006, broken down by local authority. [127857]
Jim Knight: The information requested has been placed in the House Library.
Pupils: English Language
Mr. Moss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what estimate he has made of the number of English as an additional language pupils in (a) Cambridgeshire, (b) Norfolk and (c) Lincolnshire; [138717]
(2) what estimate he has made of the increase in the number of English as an additional language pupils in the last five years in (a) Cambridgeshire, (b) Norfolk and (c) Lincolnshire. [138718]
Jim Knight: The information requested is recorded by schools through the School Census and is shown in the table:
| Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : number of pupils where first language is known or believed to be other than English( 2) , as at January each year, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire local authorities | ||||||
| Primary | Secondary | |||||
| Cambridgeshire | Norfolk | Lincolnshire | Cambridgeshire | Norfolk | Lincolnshire | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Pupils of compulsory school age and above. (3) In 2003, following the introduction of new first language codes, estimates were made for Norfolk LA as data from some primary and secondary schools were known to be incorrect. (4) All figures are as reported by secondary schools. The 2004 Lincolnshire figure is high as some schools wrongly reported 100 per cent. of pupils with first language known or believed to be other than English. No estimates to correct for this were made in 2004. (5) Provisional data. Source: School Census | ||||||
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the level of funding was per pupil in (a) Shrewsbury and Atcham, (b) Dagenham, (c) Leicester West and (d) Leeds Central constituency in (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006. [140218]
Jim Knight: The education funding information requested is allocated to local authorities and not at constituency level. The 2005-06 dedicated schools grant (DSG) baseline plus revenue grants and final 2006-07 DSG allocations plus revenue grants are shown in the following table. These are the cash figures for all funded pupils aged three-15:
| £ | ||
| Local authority | 2005-06 DSG baseline plus grants | 2006-07 DSG plus grants |
Reading: Mentors
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many mentors there are providing help with reading in schools in England. [139886]
Jim Knight: Reading mentors are an invaluable resource for many schools in supporting children to read well. The Department is currently providing funding to Volunteer Reading Help (VRH); a charitable organisation which recruits, trains and places volunteers to give one-to-one help twice a week to children aged 6-11 years who find reading a challenge. Currently VRH has around 2000 volunteer readers working with around 5,000 children.
For a minority of young children with significant literacy difficulties an intensive intervention delivered by specialist teachers is needed if they are to be able to read and access the wider curriculum. Every Child A Reader does this by placing highly skilled Reading Recovery teachers into schools to provide intensive one-to-one or small group support to children most in need. Every Child A Reader will be rolled out nationally, benefiting over 30,000 children a year by 2010-11.
Estimates from a nationally representative sample survey in 2004 (The Deployment and Impact of Support Staff in Schools) indicated that there were 4,539 full-time equivalent learning mentors in schools in England and 24 in Wales. These are paid support staff who worked in the school (including in the provision of extended services for pupils) whether employed by the school, local authority or other body, but not unpaid volunteers or other unpaid helpers. A further survey was conducted in the spring term 2005-06 and updated figures will be published later this year.
Schools Private Finance Unit
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much has been spent on (a) the establishment and (b) the running of the Schools Private Finance Unit; [139823]
(2) how many staff work in the Schools Private Finance Unit; [139942]
(3) what the functions are of the Schools Private Finance Unit; and how its performance is assessed. [139944]
Jim Knight: The Department had a schools private finance unit from approximately 1996 to 2004. As a result of its work, there are now 107 PFI contracts with a value of £3.97 billion which are delivering buildings, ICT and other services to over 840 schools. The Department cannot work out the cost of the establishment or running of the unit over that period without incurring disproportionate cost. The unit began in 1996 with one full-time member of staff and, at its largest, had around 17 staff.
The Department currently has one PFI strategy adviser, at grade 7, and the average cost of employing a grade 7 is £65,000. The adviser’s function is to work with the private sector, central and local government and schools to promote excellent service to schools through PFI. Other staff in the Department’s Schools Capital Division also contribute to PFI work, and the Department works closely with Partnerships UK and the 4ps to ensure that local authorities and schools have the support they need. For example, Partnerships UK runs an operational taskforce which schools and local authorities can ring for help with PFI issues.
The Department previously assessed its performance on PFI in terms of contracts signed. Now that all 107 PFI contracts have been signed, we are considering what performance indicators might be appropriate for their build and operational phases.
All schools PFI is now within Building Schools for the Future, which is run by Partnerships for Schools, one of the Department’s non-departmental public bodies.
Schools: Construction
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what research he has commissioned to assess the through-life costs of a school built under (a) Building Schools for the Future and (b) other capital programmes. [140051]
Jim Knight: We would not expect the through-life costs of schools built under different programmes to be significantly different. Those procuring schools should have regard to the recommended building and design standards in our range of Building Bulletins and other publications, including “Finding the Right Solution—a Guide to Options Appraisal”. They should also have regard to wider Government procurement and value for money guidance and should apply through-life cost considerations for all procurement as part of their commitment to the Common Minimum Standards Procurement of Works.
Partnerships for Schools, our delivery partner in Building Schools for the Future, challenges local authorities to achieve best through-life, value for money solutions no matter which procurement approach is used. Where finance is through Private Finance Initiative credits, through-life costs are fixed for the public sector when the contract is signed. We encourage local authorities to use Building Schools for the Future Local Educational Partnerships or acceptable alternative arrangement for all their schools’ building procurement.
Partnerships for Schools is currently collecting life-cycle costs and other information on schools in Building Schools for the Future as part of a benchmarking database to enable comparisons to be made in the future. Further, we have commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to evaluate the Building Schools for the Future programme. This will include comparisons of cost data with schools where investment is through other programmes.
Schools: Crimes of Violence
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers were assaulted by (a) pupils and (b) parents in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [139017]
Jim Knight: This information is not held centrally.
For the academic years 2003/04 and 2004/05 information is available on the reasons for pupil exclusions. These reasons include ‘physical assault against an adult’.
Tables showing the available information about the number of pupils who have been excluded from school on either a permanent or fixed period basis including the reasons for exclusion have been placed in the Library.
Violence against school staff will not be tolerated. We fully back schools taking tough action against anyone—pupil or parent—who behaves aggressively. We are implementing a wide-ranging national programme to strengthen schools’ capacity to manage behaviour and minimise violence.
Schools: Fire Prevention
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many schools in England have sprinkler systems installed; [139498]
(2) what percentage of fires in schools were started deliberately in each of the last five years; [139499]
(3) what estimate he has made of the cost of the effects of arson to schools in each of the last five years. [139500]
Jim Knight: The Department does not have data on how many schools have sprinklers installed. However, we understand from insurers that nearly 300 schools in the United Kingdom as a whole have sprinkler systems fitted.
With regard to statistics on school fires and arson, the latest figures we have from the Department for Communities and Local Government covering England and Wales are for 2000-04, with those for 2005 being provisional.
| Year | Number of fires | Total costs (£ million) | Arson (percentage) |
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