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23 July 2007 : Column 872W—continued


Primary Education: Class Sizes

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the annual cost of reducing class sizes at Key Stage 1 in English schools to (a) 20 or fewer and (b) 25 or fewer. [150696]

Jim Knight: There is no clear evidence that further reductions in the infant class size limit from 30 would have further impact on overall pupil attainment, and therefore we have not done any work in costing this. Teachers, supported by teaching assistants, are free to organise their classes into small groups if they consider it will benefit individual pupils' learning.

Private Education: Per Capita Costs

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his most recent estimate is of capital spending per pupil by independent schools in England; and if he will make a statement. [149100]

Jim Knight: These data are not collected by the Department. However, the 2007 Independent Schools Council Census, comprising 1,276 schools and around 80 per cent. of pupils in the independent sector, indicates that capital expenditure per pupil for the schools included in the census was on average £1,387 per pupil in 2006-07.

Pupil Exclusions: Greater London

Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school exclusions there were in each London borough in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [149400]

Jim Knight: Data on school exclusions for all local education authorities in England, including those for London and covering the years 1997/98 to 2005/06, have been placed in the House Library.

Pupils: Absenteeism

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the total number of unauthorised absences was in each (a) government region and (b) local education authority in each year since 1997. [151175]


23 July 2007 : Column 873W

Jim Knight: Figures on the percentage of unauthorised absence for each local authority from 1997 onwards is available in the House of Commons Library. Figures on the total number of unauthorised absence broken down by local authority and government office region are available 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.

Pupils: Allergies

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) if he will commission research on the performance of pupils with hay fever at (a) GCSE and (b) A level; and if he will make a statement; [150818]

(2) if he will take steps to ensure that advice is provided by the Joint Council for Qualifications to examination centres on provision to be made for those affected by hay fever during an examination. [150845]

Jim Knight: I am satisfied that the current arrangements are sufficient to ensure that students who suffer from hay fever are not disadvantaged in taking general qualifications such as GCSEs and A levels. Under the annual regulations and guidance on Access Arrangements and Special Consideration produced by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) on behalf of the awarding bodies, 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. The JCQ sends these regulations each year to all examination centres and they are also available on the JCQ's website.

Pupils: Discipline

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to use Ofsted to improve behaviour in schools. [149937]

Kevin Brennan: Inspectors make a judgment about standards of behaviour every time they inspect a school. Ofsted will further strengthen their focus on behaviour by giving inspectors additional guidance that clearly identifies the characteristics of satisfactory and inadequate standards of behaviour. Ofsted inspectors
23 July 2007 : Column 874W
will continue to make monitoring visits to schools judged to have inadequate standards of behaviour to make sure they improve.

Ofsted will also strengthen the behaviour-related aspects of the school self-evaluation form. This provides the opportunity for schools to identify the proportion of lessons where pupils do not make the progress they should as a result of low level disruption or the bad behaviour of individuals.

Taken together, these changes will provide an even stronger incentive for schools to maintain high standards and improve them where they are currently not good enough.

Pupils: Fingerprints

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department has issued to schools about the collection of fingerprints from children. [150344]

Jim Knight: Guidance on the use of biometric technologies in schools will shortly be issued by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) on behalf of my Department.

Pupils: School Choice

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children were placed in schools other than their first place preference school in each local education authority in each year since 1996-97. [150839]

Jim Knight: We do not collate this information centrally.

Pupils: Special Educational Needs

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of schools have more than (a) 50 per cent. of pupils on the special needs register, (b) 30 per cent. of pupils on the special needs register, (c) 20 per cent. of pupils on the special needs register, (d) 10 per cent. of children with statements and (e) 20 per cent. of children with statements. [150675]

Jim Knight: Information on the number and percentage of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in schools is published in a Statistical First Release “Special Educational Needs in England, January 2007” and is available on the Department’s Research and Statistics Gateway at:


23 July 2007 : Column 875W

23 July 2007 : Column 876W
Maintained primary schools ( 1) : n umber of schools by percentage of pupils with SEN ( 2) , January 2007
Pupils with statements of SEN
Up to 2% 2% up to 5% 5% up to 10% 10% and above
Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Total number of schools

England

12,875

74.2

3,827

22.0

544

3.1

111

0.6

17,357

North East

727

79.2

163

17.8

18

2.0

10

1.1

918

North West

1,774

69.5

644

25.2

113

4.4

23

0.9

2,554

Yorkshire and the Humber

1,451

77.5

375

20.0

42

2.2

4

0.2

1,872

East Midlands

1,298

76.5

324

19.1

65

3.8

9

0.5

1,696

West Midlands

1,444

79.0

345

18.9

33

1.8

7

0.4

1,829

East of England

1,428

69.4

553

26.9

64

3.1

13

0.6

2,058

London

1,287

70.6

468

25.7

54

3.0

14

0.8

1,823

Inner London

471

67.8

200

28.8

16

2.3

8

1.2

695

Outer London

816

72.3

268

23.8

38

3.4

6

0.5

1,128

South East

2,075

77.8

487

18.3

84

3.1

21

0.8

2,667

South West

1,391

71.7

468

24.1

71

3.7

10

0.5

1,940


Pupils with SEN ( 4)
Up to 5% 5% up to 25% 25% up to 35% 35% up to 50% 50% and above
Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Number of schools %( 3) Total number of schools

England

602

3.5

13,507

77.8

2,421

13.9

715

4.1

112

0.6

17,357

North East

39

4.2

664

72.3

155

16.9

47

5.1

13

1.4

918

North West

132

5.2

1,994

78.1

327

12.8

93

3.6

8

0.3

2,554

Yorkshire and the Humber

76

4.1

1,495

79.9

227

12.1

68

3.6

6

0.3

1,872

East Midlands

48

2.8

1,344

79.2

223

13.1

72

4.2

9

0.5

1,696

West Midlands

46

2.5

1,447

79.1

264

14.4

67

3.7

5

0.3

1,829

East of England

67

3.3

1,679

81.6

237

11.5

59

2.9

16

0.8

2,058

London

35

1.9

1,365

74.9

333

18.3

86

4.7

4

0.2

1,823

Inner London

6

0.9

503

72.4

145

20.9

40

5.8

1

0.1

695

Outer London

29

2.6

862

76.4

188

16.7

46

4.1

3

0.3

1,128

South East

87

3.3

1,971

73.9

420

15.7

154

5.8

35

1.3

2,667

South West

72

3.7

1,548

79.8

235

12.1

69

3.6

16

0.8

1,940

(1) Includes middle schools as deemed.
(2) Schools banded by the proportion of school population with SEN.
(3) Number of primary schools by proportion of school population with SEN expressed as a percentage of all primary schools.
(4) Pupils with SEN include both pupils with statements and those identified by schools as having SEN who do not have statements.
Source:
School Census

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