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8 Oct 2007 : Column 398Wcontinued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will publish the latest figures for funding per pupil in each English school; and if he will make a statement. [154524]
Jim Knight: The available information has been placed in the House Libraries.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) if he will take steps to allocate higher levels of funding to school pupils from deprived backgrounds; and if he will make a statement; [154612]
(2) if he will make a statement on his plans to reform deprivation-related funding for schools. [154525]
Jim Knight: Funding for local authorities within the Dedicated Schools Grant includes an element for deprivation as detailed in my previous response to the hon. Members earlier question answered on 26 July 2007, Official Report, column 1405W.
A review is currently under way to look at how much funding each local authority is passing on to schools on the basis of deprivation and how this can be improved where necessary. As part of the process Departmental officials will be collecting baseline information regarding the distribution in 2007-08 in order that change can be tracked in future years.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many work experience schemes are run by schools in each (a) Government region and (b) local education authority. [153828]
Jim Knight: The Department does not routinely collect this information. Each year the vast majority of more than half a million key stage 4 (14-16) pupils in all areas go on work experience placements. Work experience is the single biggest, co-ordinated partnership between employers and schools. Surveys show that work experience is valued by employers, schools andmost importantlylearners. Ofsted reported that four out of five pupils are positive about their work experience, and that three quarters of placements are well matched to pupils interests and capabilities.
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many press officers are employed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. [154428]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority employs three full-time and three part-time press officers.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will break down the public cost of raising the education leaving age to 18 years by main subheading. [154715]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 17 July 2007, Official Report, column 303W, in which the estimated costs of raising the participation age are set out by main category. The estimated costs of raising the participation age are also set out in the Regulatory Impact Assessment published alongside the Green Paper on 22 March. This can be accessed at:
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his policy is on phasing the raising of the education leaving age to 18; and if he will make a statement. [154758]
Jim Knight: We said in the Green Paper Rising Expectations: staying in education and training post-16, published in March, that we propose to introduce a new requirement for young people to participate in education or training post-16 in a phased way, moving first to a requirement to participate until age 17, before subsequently requiring participation until 18. We judge that the best moment to raise the participation age to 17 would be 2013, and we would then propose to raise the participate age to 18 in 2015.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools provide a school meals service; what estimate he has made of the number of pupils eating school meals; what assessment he has made of the financial viability of the school meals service in secondary schools; and if he will make a statement. [154785]
Kevin Brennan: The Department does not collect this information. However, the School Food Trusts (SFT) second annual survey of take-up of school meals in England (published in September 2007), which is based on responses from 104 local authorities, reports that, in 2006-07, 90.7 per cent. of primary schools and 57.6 per cent. of secondary schools offered school lunches; and that 41 per cent. of primary pupils and 38 per cent. of secondary pupils ate school lunches.
In addition, the Local Authority Caterers Associations (LACA) National School Meals Survey 2007 which is based on responses from 94 LACA member authorities, reports that 65 per cent. of local authority caterers forecast a deficit on 2006-07 trading; and that 51 per cent. forecast a deficit on 2007-08 trading.
Increasing take-up of school lunches is a priority for my Department and for the SFT.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) if he will list the planned changes to school meal standards in England in each year from 2007 to 2011; and if he will make a statement; [155979]
(2) how many school lunches were served in England in each year from 1996-97 to 2007-08; and if he will make a statement; [155980]
(3) if he will make a statement on the Government's progress towards their target of increased take-up of school meals. [155981]
Kevin Brennan: Standards for school food are being introduced to the following timetable:
September 2006: food-based standards for school lunches;
September 2007: food-based standards for all food provided in schools;
September 2008: nutrient-based standards for school lunches in primary schools; and
September 2009: nutrient-based standards for school lunches in secondary schools.
This Department does not collect information on the number of school lunches served annually. However, the National Audit Office report, Smarter food procurement in the public sector, published in March 2006, stated that the number of meals served annually was 617 million.
The School Food Trust (SFT) recently published its second annual survey of take-up of school meals in England. This showed that, between 2005-06 and 2006-07, school lunch take-up fell by one percentage point in primary schools (from 42.3 per cent. to 41.3 per cent.) and by five percentage points in secondary schools (from 42.7 per cent. to 37.7 per cent.).
The SFT has a target to increase take-up of school lunches, from the 2008-06 baseline, by four percentage points by March 2008; and by 10 percentage points by the end of 2009.
Increasing take-up of school lunches is a priority for my Department and for the SFT.
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools have been opened since 1997, broken down by local education authority. [154450]
Jim Knight: The number of maintained mainstream schools opened in since 1997, broken down by local authority, is given in the following table.
New schools can be established for a number of reasons including: to meet population growth; to replace schools that are amalgamating; as a Fresh Start school to replace a school in special measures; as a
school with a religious character to replace a school without a religious character; or as part of another type of local reorganisation.
It was not mandatory to supply school opening dates prior to January 2002 and therefore the figures for these years may not be complete.
Open date | ||||||||||||
1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | Grand total | |
Source: EduBase |
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