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3 Dec 2007 : Column 986W—continued
The Department does not currently set targets for employment based routes initial teacher training courses. However, recruitment data for EBR ITT courses is taken into account in projecting the future required number of recruits and successful completers on each type of programme and by subject which assists in determining the targets required for mainstream ITT recruitment.
Teachers: Romford
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) teachers and (b) learning assistants there were in Romford secondary schools on the latest date for which figures are available. [168428]
Jim Knight: The following table provides the full-time equivalent number of teachers and teaching assistants employed in local authority maintained secondary schools in Romford constituency in January 2007.
| Full-time equivalent teachers and support staff in local authority maintained secondary schools( 1) in Romford constituency, January 2007 | |
| Number | |
| (1) Local authority maintained secondary schools excludes academies and city technology colleges. Note: Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. | |
Teachers: Training
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of those enrolled as teacher trainees in each year since 1997 were teachers three years after enrolment. [166623]
Jim Knight: Information tracking those who enrol as teacher trainees through to them starting teaching is not held centrally.
The following table shows the number of final year Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees for each academic year between 1998/99 and 2005/06 who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in their final year of training and of these the number who were known to be in a teaching post six months after gaining QTS for Mainstream Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees. Information is not available for 1997/98 in a consistent format.
The following tables show the number of final year Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees for each academic year between 2001/02 and 2005/06 who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in their final year of training for Employment Based Routes (EBR) trainees. Information relating to the number of trainees gaining QTS through employment based routes was only collected from 2001/02 onwards and the employment status of trainees through EBR is not collected.
| Employment Based Routes (EBR) final year ITT trainees( 1) | |||
| Academic year | Total number of EBR trainees in their final year | Number of EBR final year trainees gaining QTS( 2) | Proportion of EBR final year trainees who gain QTS |
| (1 )Includes trainees through Employment Based Routes (EBR) only. (2 )Those who failed to gain QTS include those who are yet to complete their course, those who left before the end of their course, those who had their QTS withheld, those who have not taken the skills test and those with an unknown outcome. Note: Numbers are individually rounded to the nearest 10. Source: TDA performance profiles. | |||
The following table shows the proportion of full and part-time teachers in maintained schools who were still teaching in the maintained sector three years after gaining QTS, by the year which they gained QTS.
| Percentage of full and part-time( 1) teachers that qualified in a particular year and were still in service in the maintained sector in England three years later | ||
| Year qualified( 2) | First year in service( 3) | Percentage in full or part-time service three years later |
| (1 )Teachers in part-time service are under-recorded on the DTR by between 10 and 20 per cent. and therefore these figures may be slightly underestimated. (2 )Calendar year in which the teachers qualified (3 )Financial year during which the teachers entered service. Source: Database of Teacher Records (DTR). | ||
Telephone Services
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what information his Department collects and monitors in relation to the telephone contact centres for which his Department is responsible. [166536]
Kevin Brennan: In line with the Government’s response to Sir David Varney’s report on Service Transformation, the Department for Children, Schools and Families collects information against the 26 performance management indicators published by The Citizen and Business Contact Centre Council (CBCCC). The Department submitted its first return on performance against these indicators in October this year. The 26 indicators are published on the Cabinet Office website:
The Department also uses feedback received by the contact centre to inform its policy making process.
In addition to the Department's own contact centre, DCSF also contracts with suppliers to provide telephone helpline services to the public, usually in support of information campaigns. These contracts cover the provision of data by the suppliers to enable the Department to ensure that the supplier is meeting the Key Performance Indicators set out in the contract. Additionally, the Department may run mystery shopping or user survey research to further monitor the performance of the contact centres.
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much each telephone contact centre for which his Department is responsible has (a) cost and (b) generated in income in each financial year since their establishment. [166537]
Kevin Brennan: This Department does not operate a telephone contact centre as such; rather, there is a central Public Communications Unit that deals with telephone inquiries, e-mails, written correspondence and public consultations. To extract the cost of telephone handling alone would incur disproportionate cost.
None of the activities of the Public Communications Unit generates income for the Department.
The Department also contracts with suppliers to provide helpline services to the public, usually in support of information campaigns. The cost of all of these in each financial year since they were set up could be given only at disproportionate cost. None of these contact centres generate income for the Department.
Truancy: Custodial Treatment
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parents were imprisoned following a child’s absence from school in each of the last three years. [167784]
Jim Knight: The Ministry of Justice collects data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the offence under s444(1) for failing to secure their child’s regular attendance at school; or prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly; and for various offences under the Education Act 1996—these are likely to include some prosecutions under s444 and s444(1A) for England and Wales. The information on the number of people given immediate custodial sentences is detailed in the following table:
| England and Wales | |||
| Education Act 1996 | Education Act 96, s444 | Education Act 96, S4441A | |
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | |||
| 2005 | |||
World War II: Education
Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will ensure that teaching of the historical fact of the Holocaust is mandatory in the school curriculum. [165966]
Jim Knight
[holding answer 22 November 2007]: The National Curriculum requires pupils aged between 11 and 14 to study the Holocaust and this has not changed following the recent KS3 review where the
Holocaust remains one of the very few compulsory elements of the History Curriculum. Its study is supported by funding from the Holocaust Education Trust to offer a visit to Auschwitz to two 15 to 17-year-olds from every English secondary school.
Young People: Alcoholic Drinks
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to reduce alcohol abuse amongst teenagers. [167864]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 29 November 2007]: The Government are committed to reducing substance misuse among young people, including that relating to alcohol. In June of this year, the Government published the updated Alcohol Strategy for England, “Safe. Sensible. Social.” For the first time, it identifies under-18s as a priority group for Government action on alcohol and sets out the reduction of drinking by young people as a Government objective. As part of this strategy, this Department has committed to:
Establishing a panel of experts who will produce authoritative, accessible guidance about what is and what is not safe and sensible in the light of the latest available evidence from the UK and abroad, to help young people and their parents make informed decisions about alcohol; and
Raising awareness of young people’s alcohol use and—through a social marketing campaign—to work to create a culture where it is socially acceptable for young people to choose not to drink and, if they do, to do so later and more safely.
Alcohol education continues to be a vital element of our approach. The Department’s guidance, “Drugs: Guidance for Schools (DfES 2004)” is clear that pupils’ education about alcohol and its effects should start in primary school, before drinking patterns become established and should be revisited as pupils’ understanding and experience increases.
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