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25 Jun 2007 : Column 586W—continued
Pathways to Work
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the costs of the Pathways study have been to date; what further expenditure on the study is planned; and how many staff in his Department are working on the study. [145720]
Jim Knight: There are two current studies funded by the Department which are looking at aspects of pathways. These are:
1. Predicting Adult Life Outcomes from earlier signals: Modelling pathways through childhood. The total cost of this project is £20,450. No further expenditure is planned.
2. Adoption initiative: Pathways to permanence for children of Black, Asian and Mixed parentage: Dilemmas, Decision Making and Outcomes. The total cost of this is £341,952. No further expenditure is planned.
Both these projects have been contracted to external academic research bodies. One member of staff is involved in managing these external projects.
Pre-school Education: Finance
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 17 May 2007, Official Report, columns 856-8W, on pre-school education: finance, how much funding each local authority provided to nursery providers in each of the last two years. [140659]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not collected centrally. Local authorities—in consultation with their School Forums—are responsible for deciding how best to apply their total school and early years funding across all age groups and between different types of provider, based on an assessment of local circumstances. It is a matter for each local authority to determine the levels of funding for providers in their area. The Schools, Early Years and 14-16 Funding consultation which closed on 1 June set out a number of proposals for changes to the way the early years funding system operates. Ministers expect to announce final decisions over the summer, in the light of responses to the consultation.
Primary Education: Voluntary Work
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what schemes exist for unpaid volunteers or other unpaid helpers to provide support or one-to-one help in primary schools. [144531]
Jim Knight: We encourage schools to draw on the services of parents and other volunteers through strong links with parents, the local community and others. We know that schools receive a vast amount of help through parents giving up their time. We do not collect data from schools about this sort of activity. The specific schemes or organisations which we support are:
Volunteer Reading Help, a charity which places trained volunteers in primary schools to help young disadvantaged children with reading.
The Workers Educational Association (WEA) makes a valuable contribution to training parents who left school with few or no qualifications as classroom volunteers.
The National Literacy Trust (which delivers the National Reading Campaign) provides a list of voluntary organisations who work with schools.
Private Education: Charities
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of his submission to the Charity Commission on review of public benefit concerning independent schools. [145140]
Jim Knight: The Charity Commission will be publishing a summary of responses to their public consultation on draft public benefit guidance later this year. We will place a copy of DfES’s response in the House Library when the consultation response is published.
Private Finance Initiative: Finance
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the value is of the unitary payments of each private finance initiative scheme overseen by his Department over the lifetime of the contract expressed in 2007-08 prices and discounted to present value. [145870]
Jim Knight: Information on schools private finance initiative contracts, including balance sheet treatment and unitary charges, is included in HM Treasury’s PFI Signed Projects List, which is available through:
This is a working document containing information on current signed PFI projects. It is updated on a 6-monthly basis to reflect the updates HM Treasury receives from Departments at Budget and pre-Budget report.
Pupils: Hay Fever
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of changing the timings of (a) GCSE and (b) A-level examinations, with particular reference to the effect on seasonal allergic rhinitis sufferers. [145431]
Jim Knight: It is the responsibility of an independent body, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), to timetable GCSE and A-level examinations on behalf of the awarding bodies. The JCQ seeks to take into account a range of different conditions and circumstances which can affect performance in examinations. Under present arrangements, candidates who suffer from hay fever on the day of an examination may apply via their examination centre for “special consideration”, which can result in an increase in their marks by up to 2 per cent., depending on the circumstances.
Pupils: Hyperactivity
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what steps he has taken to provide students affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with an education programme which meets their particular needs; [144246]
(2) what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health on research and best practices in the treatment of young people affected by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. [144247]
Mr. Dhanda: Schools must have regard to the SEN Code of Practice (2001). The Code recognises four main areas of Special Educational Need (SEN). These include (i) cognition and learning (ii) behavioural, emotional and social development (iii) communication and interaction and (iv) sensory and/or physical needs. Pupils with a range of difficulties including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) fall within the overall descriptor of BESD.
The monitoring of individual children’s progress is set out in the Code through the graduated approach. This is a model of action and intervention in schools and early years education settings to help children who have SEN. The approach recognises that there is a continuum of special educational needs and that, where necessary, increasing specialist expertise should be brought to bear on the difficulties that a child may be experiencing. The graduated approach is applicable to the identification, assessment and provision for children and young people with BESD. Chapters 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Code explain in detail this approach and the additional support that may be needed at School Action and School Action Plus.
Although research and best practice in the medical treatment of children with ADHD falls to the Department of Health (DH), Ministers from DfES and DH meet regularly to discuss how outcomes for the physical, mental and emotional health of children and young people can be improved.
Pupils: Injuries
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schoolchildren were injured whilst at work in England in each of the last four years. [145485]
Mrs. McGuire: I have been asked to reply.
For each of the years 2002 to 2006 HSE has received the following number of RIDDOR reports of accidents to persons aged 1-15 years, described as being an employee or trainee.
| Number | |
For each of the years 2002 to 2006 HSE has received the following number of RIDDOR reports of accidents to persons aged 1-17 years, described as being on work experience.
| Number | |
HSE is aware of the rising number of reportable incidents and is undertaking work to establish the possible causes for the increase before deciding on the appropriate action to take.
Qualifications
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what (a) mechanisms and (b) data are provided to employers for the purposes of checking the authenticity of academic qualifications claimed by job applicants. [145906]
Phil Hope: The National Database of Accredited Qualifications (www.accreditedqualifications.org.uk) is a free tool that any individual can use to check that a qualification is accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). Only awarding bodies that have been recognised by QCA are able to submit qualifications for accreditation. Should an employer wish to check the authenticity of a certificate and qualification in respect of a specific individual, the usual process is to send a copy of the certificate to the issuing awarding body which will then confirm that the certificate was issued to the person named on the certificate and the name matches the certificate number.
As for HE qualifications, employers would be expected to check with the HE institution concerned.
Research: Israel
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many UK-Israel research collaborations are supported by (a) EU and (b) European Science Foundation funding; and what the value is of such funding. [144579]
Malcolm Wicks: I have been asked to reply.
The European Commission is responsible for providing member states with data on the implementation of the Framework Programme. The
Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) covered the years 2003 to 2007. The latest FP6 data provided by the European Commission cover all projects where a contract has been signed up to July 2006. The data provided by the Commission show that there were 262 signed contracts where there were participants from both the UK and Israel. These contracts have been awarded funding of €1.5 billion.
The European Science Foundation (ESF) UK member organisations are the seven Research Councils and the British Academy. ESF does not provide information on research collaborations to members; this is not part of their reporting procedures.
Schools: Crimes of Violence
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teachers and teaching assistants have been assaulted in each region of England in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [142144]
Jim Knight: The number of incidents of assaults towards staff in schools is not collected centrally.
From the academic year 2003/04, information is available on the reasons for pupil exclusions. These reasons include
‘physical assault against an adult’.
Local authority level tables (including Government office region) showing the number of permanent and fixed period exclusions by reason are available in the House Library.
Schools: Ethnic Groups
Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of ethnic minority pupils attend (a) Catholic schools, (b) Church of England schools, (c) maintained comprehensive schools without a religious character and (d) grammar schools in (i) Birmingham, (ii) Solihull, (iii) West Midlands and (iv) England. [140540]
Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the tables.
| Maintained secondary schools: Number and percentage of minority( 1,2) ethnic pupils by religious character of school: January 2007( 3 ) England | ||||||
| Birmi n g ham local authority | Solihull local authority | |||||
| Number of minority ethnic pupils( 4) | Percentage of minority ethnic pupils( 5) | All pupils( 6) | Number of minority ethnic pupils( 4) | Percentage of minority ethnic pupils( 5) | All pupils( 6) | |
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