House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 03 Dec 2007 (pt 0054)

3 Dec 2007 : Column 980W—continued

Schools: Teaching Methods

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department has issued on the use of setting in schools; and when such guidance was issued. [168514]

Jim Knight: In September 2006 we published ‘Grouping Pupils for Success’ (publication reference DfES03945-2006DWO-EN). This is a suite of guidance documents for primary and secondary school leaders and subject leaders/coordinators, designed to encourage effective strategies for grouping and setting. The guidance was published and promoted through the National Strategies and is available to all schools from:

www.standards.dcsf.gov.uk.

3 Dec 2007 : Column 981W

This guidance is based on independent research, commissioned by the Department and published in two phases. In September 2007 we published ‘Effective Teaching and Learning for Pupils in Low Attaining Groups’ (reference DCSF-RR011/DCSF-RB011), a fieldwork report. This built on research published in September 2006 entitled ‘Pupil Grouping Strategies and Practices at Key Stage 2 and 3’ (reference RR796/RB796). These reports are available from our research gateway at:

www.dcsf.gov.uk/research.

Schools: Translation Services

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much schools in each London borough spent on translation services in each of the past five years. [168117]

Jim Knight: My Department does not collect this information.

Science: GCE A-Level

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students were entered for examination at A2 level in (a) biology, (b) physics, (c) chemistry, (d) engineering and (e) computer science in each year since 1997. [168299]

Jim Knight: The information requested is as follows.

3 Dec 2007 : Column 982W

Number of 16 to 18-year-old pupils entered for selected GCE/VCE A-level subjects from 1996/97 to 2006/07 in England
	1996/97	1997/98	1998/99	1999/2000	2000/01
Biological Sciences	47,598	48,897	47,192	46,190	44,592
Chemistry	36,429	37,103	35,831	35,290	33,871
Physics	28,777	29,672	29,552	28,191	28,031
Computer Studies	10,118	12,529	10,435	10,851	10,913
Engineering (VCE)⁽¹⁾	—	—	—	—	—

	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07^{( 2)}
Biological Sciences	45,407	43,902	44,235	45,662	46,624	46,916
Chemistry	32,324	31,065	32,130	33,164	34,534	35,157
Physics	27,860	26,278	24,606	24,094	23,657	23,973
Computer Studies	9,329	8,256	6,853	5,810	5,017	4,654
Engineering (VCE)⁽¹⁾	407	361	380	339	211	194
⁽¹⁾ Figures for VCE examinations only available from 2001/02 onwards. The figure relating to 2006/07 includes both GCE and VCE applied examinations. ⁽²⁾ 2006/07 data are provisional. Schools will get the chance to amend their results as part of the data checking process before the revised figures are published in mid January 2008.

Secondary Education: Truancy

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of schools have adopted secondary school behaviour and truancy partnerships. [167538]

Jim Knight: Nearly all secondary schools are now working together in partnerships to improve behaviour and tackle persistent absence and we are supporting and encouraging those schools that have yet to join a partnership.

James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of secondary school sessions were missed through unauthorised absences in the last 12 months. [167539]

Kevin Brennan: The available information is shown in the tables.

Absence rates for secondary schools in 2006/07 are expected to be published in February 2008.

Maintained Secondary Schools, City Technology Colleges and Academies^{( 1)} : Pupil Absence by Type of School, England, 2005/06
			Percentage of half days missed^{( 2)}
	Number of day pupils of compulsory school age^{( 3)}	Number of pupil enrolments^{( 4, 5)}	Authorised absence	Unauthorised absence	Overall absence
Maintained Secondary Schools, City Technology Colleges and Academies	2,983,040	3,056,330	6.82	1.42	8.24
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ The number of sessions missed due to authorised/unauthorised/overall absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.^{( 3)} Pupil numbers are as at January 2006. Includes pupils aged five to 15 with sole and dual (main) registration. Excludes boarders. ⁽⁴⁾ Number of pupil enrolments in schools between 1 September 2005 and 27 May 2006. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school). See Notes to Editors 11, 12 and 13. ⁽⁵⁾ There were some 7,240 cases from maintained secondary schools; 20 cases from CTCs and 370 cases from academies for whom absence data were missing. These cases have been excluded from the total number of pupil enrolments. See Notes to Editors 12. Note: Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census.

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Maintained Secondary Schools, City Technology Colleges and Academies^{( 1)} : Pupil Absence by Type of School, England, Autumn Term 2006 and Spring Term 2007
			Percentage of half days missed^{( 2)}
	Number of day pupils of compulsory school age^{( 3)}	Number of pupil enrolments^{( 4, 5)}	Authorised absence	Unauthorised absence	Overall absence
Maintained Secondary Schools, City Technology Colleges and Academies	2,954,940	3,016,240	6.30	1.48	7.78
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ The number of sessions missed due to authorised/unauthorised/overall absence expressed as a percentage of the total number of possible sessions.^{( 3)} Pupil numbers are as at January 2006. Includes pupils aged five to 15 with sole and dual (main) registration. ⁽⁴⁾ Number of pupil enrolments in schools between 1 September 2006 and 9 April 2007. Includes pupils on the school roll for at least one session who are aged between five and 15, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered in more than one school). See Notes to Editors 14 and 15. ⁽⁵⁾ There were some 32,498 cases from primary schools; 16,470 cases from maintained secondary schools, 18 cases from CTCs and 750 cases from academies for whom absence data were missing. These cases have been excluded from the total number of pupil enrolments. See Notes to Editors 15. Notes: 1. The overall absence rate, including both authorised and unauthorised absence for autumn term 2005 and spring term 2006. 2. Data for academies are based on 46 academies for autumn 2006 and spring 2007, 19 of which opened in autumn 2006. 3. Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census.

Sports: Children

Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 20 November 2007, Official Report, column 661W, on sports: children, whether there are any targets set for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) physical development of babies and young children; how progress in this area will be assessed; and how much funding has been allocated to the EYFS. [168988]

Beverley Hughes: The EYFS defines milestones in the form of Early Learning Goals which provide the basis for assessing children’s development at the end of the EYFS—normally at the end of reception class. Children’s progress during, and at the end of the EYFS (age five) when the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile will be completed, are based on observational assessment of them in everyday activities, by practitioners using their professional judgement. One of the 13 scales used to assess young children’s development at age five relates to physical development. Targets both at national level and local authority level relate to overall achievement across the Foundation Stage Profile, rather than specific targets relating to the physical development.

Government invest some £3 billion each year in the delivery of the free entitlement to nursery education for three and four-year-olds. Funding is provided to local authorities through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and covers provision delivered in accordance with the Foundation Stage Curriculum and the National Daycare Standards by providers in the maintained, private, voluntary and independent sectors (PVI). In addition, we announced in the summer over £4 billion Revenue and £893 million Capital three year (2008-11) allocations for local authorities of Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant (SSEYCG) (formerly General Sure Start Grant). The Department has provided specific funding of an additional £7 million in each of 2007-08 and 2008-09 to LAs through the Standards Funds and the SSEYCG to support EYFS training of practitioners in schools and PVI settings.

Students: Transport

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what transport support provision is available for home to school or college for students in further education in the London Borough of Havering. [168419]

Jim Knight: From 1 September 2006, Transport for London introduced a free travel concession on buses and trams for young people under the age of 18 who are attending a full-time education course. The concession expires at the end of the academic year in which the student turns 18.

Teachers: Recruitment

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the recruitment target for all forms of secondary teacher training in (a) biology, (b) chemistry, (c) physics, (d) mathematics, (e) engineering and (f) computer science was in each of the last 10 years. [168297]

Jim Knight: The Department sets targets for recruitment to mainstream initial teacher training and the targets for science, mathematics, design and technology, and information and communications technology (ICT) between 1998/99 and 2007/8 are shown in the following table.

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Mainstream initial teacher training places^{( 1)} : academic year 1998/99 to 2007/08
Secondary subject	1998/99	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08
Science	3,050	2,390	2,690	2,810	2,850	3,225	3,225	3,225	3,225	3,225
Mathematics	2,150	1,680	1,850	1,940	1,940	2,315	2,350	2,350	2,350	2,350
Design and Technology⁽²⁾	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,085	1,060	1,010	930
Information and communications technology⁽²⁾	—	—	—	—	—	—	1,050	1,100	1,040	985
⁽¹⁾ Includes school centred ITT but excludes employment based routes (EBR). ⁽²⁾ Number of places for design and technology and information and communications technology are not available before 2004/05 as these were grouped as a total technology target in these years. Note: Places for vocational subjects in 2006/07 and 2007/08 are included with the allocation for related academic subject: Science includes places for applied science, design and technology includes both manufacturing and engineering and ICT includes applied ICT. In 2004/05, places for vocational subjects were shown separately. In 2003/04, the margin of flexibility included places for a vocational subjects pilot. Source: DCSF.

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