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21 Nov 2007 : Column 955W—continued
Schools: Admissions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many surplus school places there were in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each year since 1990; and if he will make a statement. [166045]
Jim Knight: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of surplus school places through an annual survey. The earliest data available are from 1998 and the most recent is for 2006. The number of surplus school places was not collected in 2002 to allow for a change in the method of assessing school capacity.
Currently the number of school places is calculated using the net capacity method of assessment which was introduced in 2003. Up to 2001 the capacity of a school was calculated using the MOE (more open enrolment) method. The following table shows the number of surplus places in maintained primary and secondary schools calculated by the net capacity method of assessment between 2003 and 2006 and the MOE method between 1998 and 2001.
| Primary surplus places( 1) | Surplus as a percentage of total primary places | Secondary surplus places( 1) | Surplus as a percentage of total secondary places | |
| (1) Number of places relate to position as at January Source: Surplus Places Survey | ||||
Schools: Finance
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how much funding his Department gave to supplementary schools in each of the last five years; [165201]
(2) whether his Department has any plans to change funding for supplementary schools. [165202]
Jim Knight: The Department does not provide direct funding to supplementary schools. However, earlier this year, in partnership with the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, the Department contributed £596,000 towards funding the establishment of a national resource centre for supplementary education. One key aim of the centre is to promote links between supplementary schools, local authorities and mainstream schools.
Schools: Sports
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of secondary schools in School Sports Partnerships held at least one sports day or sports festival in each of the last five years. [164452]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 15 November 2007]: The annual School Sport Survey was introduced in 2003/04. Over the last four years, the percentage of secondary schools that held at least one school sports day or equivalent during the academic year is as follows:
| Percentage of secondary schools holding a sports day | |
| (1 )The question was not asked in this year. | |
Prior to 2003/04, no data were collected on the percentage of schools holding a sports day.
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school sport partnerships there are; and how many he estimates there will be in 2010. [166672]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 20 November 2007]: There are 450 School Sport Partnerships in England. Every maintained school in England is now part of one of these partnerships. It is not envisaged that the number of School Sport Partnerships will change for 2010.
Secondary Education: Free School Meals
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of secondary schools with (a) above 50 per cent. (b) between 45 per cent. and 50 per cent. (c) between 21 per cent. and 35 per cent. (d) between 13 per cent. and 21 per cent. (e) between nine per cent. and 13 per cent. (f) between five and nine per cent. and (g) under five per cent. of children on free school meals had specialist status in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) at the most recent time for which figures are available; how many schools there were in each category; and if he will make a statement. [165156]
Jim Knight: The information can only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Secondary Education: Sports
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of secondary schools which field sports teams in regular competitive fixtures. [165097]
Kevin Brennan: Data are not collected in the format requested. The 2006/07 annual School Sport Survey of all maintained school in England found that 61 per cent. of pupils in secondary schools took part in intra-school competitive sport, and 34 per cent. took part in inter-school competitive sport.
Teachers: Pay
Mr. Laws:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what variation is allowed in teachers' pay to compensate for local labour market and cost variations; which areas of England receive
higher funding to accommodate higher pay costs; and if he will make a statement. [165067]
Jim Knight: The variations in the four teachers' pay areas, covering Inner London, Outer London, the “Fringe” (extending to certain parts of the home counties), and the rest of England and Wales (as defined in the school teachers’ pay and conditions document), are intended to take account of economic circumstances linked to labour market conditions and cost of living pressures within the pay areas. The variations in pay apply to all teacher pay scales. The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher, for example, currently varies from £20,133 for England and Wales, £21,102 for “Fringe”, £23,118 for outer London, to £24,168 for inner London. Full details of pay variations are available in the school teachers’ pay and conditions document 2007 (available in the House of Commons Library and at www.teachernet.gov.uk/pay).
The areas of England which receive higher funding to accommodate higher pay costs were set out in my response to the question from the hon. Member on the 15 November (PQ163822).
Individual schools also have a range of flexibilities over pay which they can use in the light of prevailing local circumstances, including determining recruitment or retention payments for teachers in addition to their normal salary entitlement.
Young People
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many persons aged 16 to 18-year-olds there were in each local authority area in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and what proportion were (a) in full-time work and (b) not in education, employment or training. [165147]
Jim Knight: The official source for employment figures in England is the Labour Force Survey (LFS), but the LFS sample is insufficiently large to produce robust estimates of 16 to 18-year-old employment at local authority level. The Department’s estimate of the number and proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) also cannot be disaggregated to regional or local authority level. However, we can give an indication of the number of 16, 17 and 18-year-olds(1) in full-time employment and NEET from data provided by Connexions services, and this is provided in the following table. Connexions data has only been available at local authority level since 2005.
Data provided by Connexions services are used to set and monitor local authority NEET targets. However, it should be noted that figures are calculated on a different basis from LFS employment estimates and the Department’s NEET estimates, and therefore do not give the same totals.
(1) Connexions service figures relate to calendar age (rather than academic age as is used in the Department’s participation estimates)
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