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22 Nov 2007 : Column 1167W—continued
In addition to these grants the Department also holds a contract for the central delivery of the National Strategies. This contract includes the provision of an education field force, continuing professional development (CPD) materials and training events. The central delivery support for primary literacy in the current comprehensive spending review (CSR) period (FY 2005-06 to FY 2007-08) is approximately £10 million.
Improving standards of literacy is one of the Government’s top priorities. As part of the drive to raise standards in education, the Government introduced the National Literacy Strategy in 1998 and the results achieved by 11-year-olds since 1997 as measured by national curriculum tests in English have risen dramatically. Provisional data for 2007 show that 80 per cent. of 11-year-olds in England reached the expected level or above, an increase of 17 percentage points since 1997.
The renewed primary literacy strategy, with a stronger emphasis on phonics, Every Child a Reader and Every Child a Writer to help those pupils who are struggling, will help to ensure that we maintain and extend the improvements we have already achieved.
Ofsted: Expenditure
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent by OFSTED on (a) taxis, (b) Government cars, (c) internal flights in the UK, (d) overseas flights, (e) rail travel and (f) couriered documents in each (i) year and (ii) quarter since 31 March 1997; and if he will make a statement. [163561]
Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Library.
School Leaving
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will publish each representation received from business groups on the proposal to raise the education leaving age to 18 years. [166700]
Jim Knight: The Department does not normally publish individual responses to consultations where these are received in confidence. A summary of the responses received was published on 24 July and a copy was placed in the House Library.
School Leaving: Cornwall
Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school leavers in Cornwall remained in the county and did not enter higher education in each year since 1979; and what percentage of all such school leavers this figure represented in each year. [166711]
Jim Knight: We do not have any information on the movement of school leavers in or out of local authority areas.
School Leaving: Qualifications
Stephen Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils left school at 16 years with (a) no GCSE qualifications and (b) no GCSE qualifications but with vocational qualifications in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2007 to date. [166723]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the percentage of 15 year-old pupils(1) leaving school with no full GCSE at grade A*-G and no full GCSE but a pass in an equivalent qualification in the Key Stage 4 achievement and attainment tables:
| Percentage of 15 year old pupils1 leaving school with: | ||
| No GCSE at grade A*-G | No GCSE but a pass in an equivalent qualification | |
| (1). Pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year i.e. 31 August. (2). The 1997 figure of 0.0 per cent. equates to around 120 students. | ||
These figures are not directly comparable. In 1997, only GNVQs were included as equivalent to GCSEs in Key Stage 4 Achievement and attainment tables data whereas in 2007, a range of other qualifications have been approved for use pre-16.
School Meals: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding for the school meals service (a) in total and (b) per meal was provided by each local authority in the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [166682]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected by this Department. The levels of funding for school meals services are determined at local level by local authorities and schools. This Government are however investing around £650 million of additional funding between 2005 and 2011 to help support the drive towards improved school food.
School Meals: Imports
Mr. Roger Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of (a) beef, (b) lamb, (c) pork and (d) dairy products used in (i) schools and (ii) sixth form colleges were imported products in the most recent period for which figures are available. [166745]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected by this Department.
Schools
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many maintained schools opened in each year since 1980, excluding those that resulted from merger or amalgamations, those that closed and re-opened as new schools, and those which opened as a result of a move from a three tier to a two tier system. [166701]
Jim Knight: Some 921 maintained schools have opened since 1992, as shown in the following table:
| Date opened | Number opened |
It was not mandatory to supply school opening dates prior to January 2002 and therefore the figures for the years 1992 to 2002 may not be complete.
There are no schools with opening dates listed prior to 1992. As such, it is not possible to give figures from 1980 to 1992.
Schools: Admissions
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many admissions there were to Castle Point secondary schools in each of the last three years; how many admission appeals there were in each of those years; and what percentage of decisions on admission applications were appealed against in each of those years. [166981]
Jim Knight: The requested information is given in the table.
| Appeals by parents against non-admission of their children to maintained secondary schools 2003-04 to 2005-06: Castle Point parliamentary constituency | |||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| (1) Number of new admissions, irrespective of age, who joined a school at any time during September to January of the relevant academic year. (2) The number of appeals lodged expressed as a percentage of the total number of new admissions. (3) Number of appeals heard by an appeals panel expressed as a percentage of the number of appeals lodged. (4) Number of appeals decided in parents' favour expressed as a percentage of the number of appeals heard by an appeals panel. Source: School Census | |||
Schools: Finance
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much (a) funding and (b) funding per pupil was provided to (i) academies, (ii) city technology colleges, (iii) grammar schools, (iv) community schools, (v) foundation schools, (vi) voluntary aided schools, (vii) voluntary controlled schools and (viii) specialist schools. [165344]
Jim Knight [holding answer 19 November 2007]: Tables A-C give a breakdown of the available data for the various types of maintained school listed at (iii) to (viii).
Table D gives data for Academies and City Technology Colleges (CTCs). This table is not comparable with the others because Academies and CTCs have academic year budgets, and also receive funding arising from their independent status. For example, they receive funding for VAT liability, and also funding which derives from their responsibility for some expenditure which for maintained schools is met from centrally retained local authority funding. The average level of funding is also high because nearly all pupils at Academies (and all pupils at CTCs) are of secondary age; and Academies mainly serve areas with a high level of pupil deprivation, which itself increases funding levels.
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