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14 Jun 2007 : Column 1196W—continued
Teachers: Training
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students on teacher training courses did not complete such courses in each year between 1997 and 2006. [142522]
Jim Knight: The following tables show the number of final year initial teacher training (ITT) trainees for each year between 1998-99 and 2004-05 who did not gain qualified teacher status (QTS) in their final year of training and of these the number who left their course before completion and the number where the outcome of QTS is unknown for:
1. Mainstream initial teacher training (ITT) trainees
2. Employment based routes (EBR) trainees
| Table 1. Mainstream final year ITT trainees | ||||||
| Number of mainstream final year trainees who have not gained QTS | ||||||
| Total number of mainstream trainees in their final year | Number of mainstream final year trainees gaining QTS | Known not to have completed course | Undefined outcome | Other o utcome | Total | |
| Notes: 1. Includes trainees from universities and other higher education (HE) institutions, school centred initial teacher training (SCITT) and open universities (OU), but exclude employment based routes (EBR). 2. Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10, therefore may not sum. 3. 'Other outcome' includes final year trainees who are yet to complete their course, those with withheld QTS (including those where their skills test was not met, their standards were not met and where both their standards and skills test were not met) and those where the skill test has not been taken (include those whose standards were met and those whose standards were not met). Source: TDA performance profiles. | ||||||
Train-to-Gain Programmes
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many employees within the public sector had enrolled in train-to-gain programmes by the end of February 2007 in public sector employers with (a) fewer that 250, (b) between 250 and 1,000, (c) between 1,000 and 5,000 and (d) more than 5,000 employees. [139511]
Phil Hope [holding answer 4 June 2007]: Train to gain is an ongoing service and as such performance is updated on a regular basis. Detailed operational information is not held centrally by the Department but is collected by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC); Mark Haysom the LSC Chief Executive has written directly to the hon. Member with the available information and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 11 June 2007:
I am writing in response to your question to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills about how many employees within the public sector had enrolled in train to gain programmes by the end of February 2007. In public sector employers with (a) fewer than 250 (b) between 250 and 1,000, (c) 1,000 and 5,000, (d) more than 5,000 employees
The LSC employer database structure does not report all of the size bands requested. However, the following information should be helpful.
| Employer size | Number of learners |
Aggressive Pupils
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) counselling and (b) legal support has been provided by his Department to teachers in circumstances where aggressive pupils have been physically restrained in each of the last three years. [141923]
Jim Knight: The provision of counselling and legal support is a matter for the local authorities and schools that employ teachers and for teachers’ professional associations. Teachers who have been subjected to physical aggression should report incidents to their employer, who has a duty of care to support them.
The Department has issued new guidance, Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education which gives advice about dealing with allegations against teachers. This came into force on 1 January 2007.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Agriculture: Bees
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the contribution of pollination activity by bees to British agriculture since 2000. [142276]
Barry Gardiner: A 2001 Economic Evaluation of DEFRA's bee health programme estimated the value of honey bees to commercial pollination at approximately £120 million, although changes in crop areas and values suggest that the value may now be lower. No valuation of the role of honey bees in relation to the pollination of wild plants is available.
Agriculture: Subsidies
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many farmers in (a) Gravesham, (b) Kent and (c) England have not yet received single farm payments for (i) 2005 and (ii) 2006. [140803]
Barry Gardiner: In England, as of 6 June 2007, 24 claimants have not received a payment for the 2005 Single Payment Scheme (SPS) and approximately 4,400 claimants have not yet received a payment for the SPS 2006.
Detailed analysis of all the payments made under the Single Payment Scheme is not yet available. Once the remaining scheme payments have been completed, a decision will be taken on the level of detail that will be published.
Bees: Diseases
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the development of Colony Collapse Disorder among honey bees in each of the last five years for which records are available. [142279]
Barry Gardiner: The term Colony Collapse Disorder is being used in the USA to describe cases in which some very large scale commercial operations have lost a high percentage of their hives. A wide range of possible causes are being investigated by researchers in the USA. The National Bee Unit at DEFRA's Central Science Laboratory is maintaining close contact with researchers from the USA.
There have been widely reported, but isolated, cases in the UK in which beekeepers have lost a high percentage of their bee colonies. However, overall percentage losses are similar to previous years, albeit reflecting the gradual increase seen in the last five years.
Bees: Research
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what representations he has received in the last three years on funding of research into bees. [142278]
Barry Gardiner: DEFRA has received a small number of representations in the last three years regarding funding of research into bees.
Biodiversity
Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what percentage of (a) priority habitats and (b) priority species under the Biodiversity Action Plan are decreasing; and which habitats and species are involved. [137856]
Barry Gardiner: There are 373 single species action plans and 45 habitat action plans under the UK biodiversity action plan. These are referred to as the priority species and habitats. Reporting on the status and trends of these priorities is done every three years. The latest available figures are for 2005. The next and final figures before the 2010 biodiversity target will be made available in February 2009. In 2005, the information below was reported:
175 species (47 per cent.) are either increasing or are stable, which is an improvement on the 2002 figures. Similarly, the number of species assessed as ‘declining or lost’ fell between 2002 and 2005. For habitats, 35 per cent. are now increasing or stable.
102 species (27 per cent.) are thought to be declining, but the decline is slowing for 36 species (10 per cent.). Although 17 habitats (39 per cent.) are thought to be declining, this decline is slowing for 11 habitats (25 per cent.).
Chalk rivers;
Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh;
Littoral and sublittoral chalk;
Sheltered muddy gravels;
Modiolus modiolus beds;
Coastal saltmarsh.
Declining habitats but slowing
Fens;
Lowland dry acid grassland;
Purple moor grass and rush pastures;
Eutrophic standing waters;
Blanket bog;
Lowland wood-pasture and parkland;
Upland hay meadows;
Upland calcareous grassland;
Lowland calcareous grassland;
Lowland meadows;
Limestone pavements;
| Declining species | |
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