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12 Dec 2007 : Column 733W—continued
Jim Knight: In 2001, the Government extended the scope of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) to cover access to education. As a result disabled children, students and adults seeking access to education now have rights against discrimination under part 4 of the DDA.
The discrimination duties schools have under part 4 of the DDA mean that they must not, without justification, treat disabled pupils or students less favourably than pupils who are not disabled, and they must make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled pupils and students are not put at a substantial disadvantage in comparison to those who are not disabled. Also, schools and local authorities (LAs) are under a duty to plan strategically to increase, over time, access for pupils with disabilities to schools. This duty includes planning to increase access to the school premises and to the curriculum, and providing written material in alternative formats to ensure accessibility.
To support schools in meeting their responsibilities under the DDA, the then DFES published a training resource for schools and local authorities: ‘Implementing the Disability Discrimination Act in schools and early years settings’.
More resources are going into schools to support children with SEN and disabilities. Local authorities’ planned spending on SEN stood at almost £4.9 billion in 2007-08, up from almost £2.8 billion in 2000-01. Indicative SEN funding in mainstream schools rose by 52 per cent. from almost £1.3 billion in 2003-04 to over £2.0 billion in 2007-08 and school budgets for special schools rose by 31 per cent. from almost £1.1 billion to over £1.4 billion over the same period. In addition, substantial capital funding—a total of some £800 million up to 2007-08 has been allocated to local authorities and schools through the Schools Access Initiative (SAI) and equivalent voluntary aided funding, which provides capital funding for projects to improve the accessibility of mainstream schools to disabled pupils. Further capital allocations totalling £340 million will be made during the years 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Schools: Discipline
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much notice a secondary school is required to give parents before keeping a child after school hours on detention. [172150]
Jim Knight: Schools are required to give parents at least 24 hours notice in writing of any detention outside normal school hours.
Schools: Sports
Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effect on participation in school sport of introducing British Summer Time in winter and double British Summer Time in summer. [172340]
Science: Standards
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the reasons for the change in international ranking of UK schools for science since 2000. [172273]
Jim Knight: The Government are encouraged by the findings set out in the full international report of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) that was published on 4 December 2007 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It shows that in science, the results for young people in England were significantly above the OECD average. Because this is the first time that science has been the main focus of PISA, the OECD states on page 32 of its international report, “PISA 2006: science competencies for tomorrow's world”, that it is not possible for any country to compare science learning outcomes from PISA 2006 with those of earlier PISA assessments.
The study shows that in science we have performed well compared to other countries and that the best English teenagers are among the best in the world and that they greatly value science. But it also shows that a challenge still remains for schools and businesses to get students enthused about science. Work is already under way to meet this challenge, for instance:
we are already changing the curriculum, giving more pupils the chance to study separate physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs and piloting 250 science clubs for 11 to 14-year-olds. We will also increase the number of science ambassadors
(people with industry experience in science and engineering) to 18,000 by 2008 to work with teachers in schools to engage and enthuse young scientists;
next year we will launch a programme of careers guidance to capture young people’s imagination by showing them the range of career opportunities available to those who study science;
we are planning a three-year programme of communications activity to support policy reforms in order to increase take up of science post-16.
Science: Teachers
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers with a level 4 qualification or above in (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) biology and (d) mathematics were teaching in English schools in each of the last 10 years. [172483]
Jim Knight [holding answer 10 December 2007 ] : The information requested is not available in the format requested.
Information on the number of full-time teachers in service in secondary schools by the highest post-A-level qualification in the subject they teach is available from the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey (SSCSS) an occasional sample survey last conducted in 2002 and 2007. 2007 figures are expected to be published in spring 2008.
The following table provides the number of teachers teaching each subject area and the level of qualification in that subject in 2002, the latest information available.
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