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4 July 2007 : Column 1085W—continued
The changes in capital funding from year to year, apart from a general rise across the period, result from periodic allocations of ring-fenced capital funding which are additional to the annual formulaic funding. In the current spending review period, from 2005-06 to 2007-08, additional targeted capital funding (TCP) of £0.612 million was allocated in 2005-06, and £3.343
million TCP in 2006-07. The large allocation of £14.6 million in 2001-02 includes a PFI allocation of £6.4 million.
GCE A Level
Mr. Boris Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many and what percentage of pupils from (a) independent, (b) maintained and (c) grammar schools received a grade A in three or more of mathematics, further mathematics, physics, chemistry, French, German and Spanish A-levels in the latest year for which figures are available; [146399]
(2) how many and what percentage of pupils from (a) independent, (b) maintained and (c) grammar schools received a grade A in one or more of mathematics, further mathematics, physics, chemistry, French, German and Spanish A-levels in the latest year for which figures are available. [146407]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not readily available and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils in maintained mainstream schools who gained five good GCSEs in 2006 gained (a) five, (b) four and (c) three C grades. [146082]
Jim Knight: The answer to this request is given in the table:
| Number of pupils in maintained mainstream Schools who got the five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C and obtained five, four or three C grades at GCSE( 1) : | ||||||
| 5 or more GCSEs at grade C | 4 or more GCSEs at grade C | 3 or more GCSEs at grade C | ||||
| Number of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 with 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C | Number | As a percentage of those with 5 + A*-C | Number | As a percentage of those with 5 + A*-C | Number | As a percentage of those with 5 + A*-C |
| (1 )At full GCSE only, not including equivalents. Source: School Achievement and Attainment Tables | ||||||
Intimidation: Statistics
Mr. Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps he plans to take to encourage schools to (a) record all incidents of bullying and (b) report the statistics to their local authority; [146512]
(2) what progress is being made on the recommendation of Third Report of Session 2006-07 of the Education and Skills Committee, on Bullying, HC 85, on developing a system for collecting and recording incidents of bullying in schools; [146513]
(3) if his Department will commission a study of the long-term effects of bullying on those subject to it in schools; [146514]
(4) what indicators his Department plans to use to measure progress in tackling prejudice-driven bullying related to special educational needs and disabilities; [146519]
(5) what assessment he has made of the likely impact of the non statutory requirement upon schools to report incidents of bullying on the quality of the collected results. [146520]
Jim Knight: As we make clear in the Government response to the Committee’s Third Report of Session 2006-07, my Department recommends as best practice that schools record all incidents of bullying and report these statistics to their local authority (LA). We will be strengthening this message in our revised overarching anti-bullying guidance and will ensure it is clear in the more specialist guidance we are preparing on homophobic and other forms of prejudice-driven bullying.
However, we do not believe that a statutory requirement on schools to record incidents of bullying would be effective. It would present significant logistical and bureaucratic difficulties for schools, and
there would be substantial issues around consistency of definition, collection, and interpretation which would be expensive, cumbersome and time-consuming to overcome. We think it is better to leave this matter to the good judgment and common sense of teachers, who will have detailed guidance on how best to go about this.
The forthcoming “Tellus 2” survey should give us more comprehensive data on young people’s experiences of bullying in schools. It will be an annual survey, starting this year, covering all LAs. Data will be considered by Ofsted in their annual performance assessment of each LA’s services, and could lead to Ofsted looking more closely at anti-bullying practices in a particular authority’s joint area review (JAR). We are currently looking at how we might use data derived from the survey to inform future policy development.
The Department’s contract with the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) includes a specific research element, which is fulfilled by a senior researcher at Goldsmiths College and his team. In our response to the Education and Skills Select Committee’s report on bullying, we made clear that the ABA was planning a substantial piece of research into reactive anti-bullying strategies, and we believed this was the best way forward. Any other research projects will be determined in light of our ongoing policy priorities.
The Department does not monitor the progress of individual schools in addressing bullying at a local, regional or national level or, as my earlier answers make clear, collect statistics in this area. However our partners in the Anti-Bullying Alliance (ABA) and National Strategies maintain close links with individual schools and authorities through their regional networks. We have flagged up that there is a need to tackle the bullying of children with SEN and disabilities in our guidance. The ABA and National Strategies work with schools to ensure effective measures are in place to prevent and tackle the bullying of these children. We have also asked the National Strategies to identify schools with weak and ineffective anti-bullying strategies and to provide challenge and support to these schools as appropriate.
Following the Government’s commitment to issue specific guidance on prejudice-driven bullying in the Schools White Paper ‘Higher Standards, Better Schools for All’, my Department produced well-received guidance in 2006 on tackling racist bullying, “Bullying around racism, religion and culture”. We will also be launching more specific guidance on how to prevent and tackle homophobic bullying later this year. We recognise there is a need for more specialist guidance to tackle the bullying of pupils with SEN and disabilities Once this is issued we will work with practitioners and with our partners in the field on a programme of dissemination to ensure schools across the country implement the guidance.
Our guidance to schools on tackling bullying has always been intentionally non-statutory. Schools need to determine an approach which best suits their local needs and circumstances, taking into account their pupil population and identified priorities. Schools are autonomous institutions, and we want them to retain the flexibility to establish a system of managing behaviour which best suits the needs of the local community they serve.
Learning Disability: Intimidation
Mr. Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps are being taken to prevent bullying among young people with learning difficulties. [146387]
Jim Knight: The Department's existing guidance for schools flags up the need to prevent and tackle the bullying of children with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities. We will be strengthening these messages in our revised anti-bullying guidance which we intend to launch in September under the title ‘Safe to Learn: Embedding Anti-Bullying Work in Schools’. We have also announced that we will be producing specialist guidance on how to prevent and tackle the bullying of children with SEN and disabilities. We have begun to meet with interested lobby groups and experts and hope to start work on this guidance very soon, with a view to launching it early next year. We intend to work closely with the Special Educational Consortium and other charities and groups with an interest in this area, drawing on current research. Once completed, this specialist guidance will form part of ‘Safe to Learn’.
Local Education Authorities: Documents
Dr. Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which local education authorities lost records in the fire at the Iron Mountain facility fire at Bromley-by-Bow on 12 July 2006; and if he will make a statement. [147072]
Jim Knight: The Department does not hold this information, and so we do not know which local education authorities lost records in this fire.
Primary Education: Teaching Methods
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2007, Official Report, column 1158W, on primary education: teaching methods, what the cost per pupil is of (a) the Every Child a Reader and (b) the Every Child Counts programme; [147163]
(2) if he will break down the average per capita cost of the Every Child a Reader programme in to (a) pay for specialist trained teachers, (b) materials for pupils, (c) central administration costs for the scheme, (d) marketing and (e) other costs; [147168]
(3) how many special teachers have been trained for the (a) Every Child a Reader and (b) Every Child Counts programme. [147169]
Jim Knight: The Every Child A Reader (ECAR) programme costs on average £2,300 per pupil. This unit cost breaks down as follows:
61 already trained specialist teachers have been re-activated and an additional 215 specialist teachers have been trained to work with children as part of the ECAR programme. ECAR is largely delivered in maintained mainstream schools although a small number of specialist teachers are delivering ECAR in special schools.
Funding of £20 million for implementing the Making Good Progress pilot in the first academic year, 2007-08, was announced on June 6 along with the details of participating pilot schools. There will be further funding for implementation in the second academic year which will be settled through the comprehensive spending review. The cost per pupil in 2007-08 will be approximately £300 and we anticipate that it will be similar in 2008-09. There will be no specific training programme for teachers in relation to the Making Good Progress pilot.
We will announce detailed allocations for Every Child Counts in due course. At this stage we do not know what the cost per pupil will be. It is likely that there will be specific training for teachers in the numeracy equivalent to Every Child A Reader when it is rolled out, the details of which (including the number of teachers to be trained) are yet to be decided.
Pupils: Attendance
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the relationship between pupil achievement and pupil attendance at (a) Key Stage 1, (b) Key Stage 2 and (c) Key Stage 3. [147544]
Jim Knight:
The research report “An Analysis of Pupil Attendance Data in Excellence in Cities (EiC) Areas and non-EiC EAZs” published in 2005 found significant associations between school attendance and performance at Key Stages 3 and 4. Data for 1999-2000 to 2000-03 were analysed for a sample of 454 schools; the profile of the sample schools was less advantaged than that of secondary schools nationally. The research also found a varying impact of high absence rates upon
different groups of pupils, particularly in the case of pupil gender, and that the relationship was less significant when background characteristics of the schools were taken into account.
Pupils: Guardianship
Jeremy Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, what mechanisms are in place to regulate or assess the quality of commercial guardianship services provided by UK organisations to overseas pupils at UK schools; how often such mechanisms are reviewed; and when the last such occasion was. [146494]
Jim Knight: Most overseas pupils are educated in independent schools. Guardianship arrangements set up by independent schools, and accommodation provided by independent boarding schools, including accommodation provided via host families, must meet national minimum standards. These cover suitability to work with children and the quality of boarding provision. These standards require all adult host family members and guardians to be checked through the Criminal Records Bureau, and are monitored through Ofsted inspection. Some independent schools use commercial guardianship services and in this case must satisfy themselves about the quality of service. However pupils placed under commercial arrangements are subject to the same level of monitoring through inspection against the national minimum standards.
It is also a legal requirement for a private foster carer to notify their local authority about private fostering arrangements. New measures in the Children Act 2004 and the Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005, which came into effect in July 2005, strengthened the private fostering Notification scheme, and provided additional safeguards for privately fostered children. We have made it clear that if the Notification scheme does not work well, we will introduce a Registration scheme for private foster carers.
Pupils: Intimidation
Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to tackle bullying in schools. [146395]
Jim Knight: The Government believe that all bullying is wrong and should never be tolerated in schools, and all our guidance makes this clear.
This year the Department will provide around £1.7 million for anti-bullying programmes, which covers the costs of grants to external organisations, as well as anti-bullying resources, the publication of guidance and support for local authorities and schools, and directly funded external events.
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