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30 Jan 2008 : Column 420W—continued
a steering group chaired by SEEDA, together with sub-groups, was formed to look at specific issues, with the full support of Adur district council, Brighton and Hove city council, West Sussex county council and GOSE. In addition, Shoreham port authority, the Environment Agency and the Highways Agency are all part of the group.
meetings have taken place on a monthly basis over the last year and the stakeholders have been given the opportunity to guide and scrutinise the actions of the project.
discussions have also taken place with the transport team within GOSE, Transport Department and the Highways Agency together with the Local Authorities Highways department to establish that the vision being promoted by SEEDA is capable of being implemented with the approval of the wider stakeholder community.
many stakeholders have been given opportunity to guide and scrutinise the actions of SEEDA on the project, although as yet it is still in the very early exploratory stages.
(b) Transport issues are just one aspect of the project that will need to be assessed to establish that the vision now being promoted by SEEDA is capable of being implemented with the approval of the wider stakeholder community. This includes the need for any additional infrastructure. To date:
briefing has been supplied to the elected representatives in the local councils at key stages, and now all three local authorities covering the area have formally agreed to participate in a Joint Area Action Plan. This will explore systematically the scope for introducing new homes and employment in the Shoreham area, and will be subject to the full statutory planning process, including public consultation.
work on the Action Area Plan is only just starting now, but will offer all stakeholders—including individual members of the public—opportunities to consider the benefits and sustainability of any development proposals, and to submit their views before planning permission is granted.
Sustainable Communities Act 2007
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what assessment he has made of whether the Sustainable Communities Act 2007 has any implications for policy making in his Department; and if he will make a statement. [181900]
Mr. McFadden: I understand that my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government will shortly begin a formal consultation on the implementation of the Act. My Department will assess any requests, in due course, that are relevant to my responsibilities.
Children, Schools and Families
Building Schools for the Future Programme
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the impact of the Building Schools for the Future project on the future budgets of (a) schools and (b) local authorities; and if he will make a statement. [181802]
Jim Knight: Twenty-first century school buildings, built to current high quality and sustainability standards, should have lower running and maintenance costs than the unsuitable and time-expired buildings which they will replace. They will allow more resources to be focused on the core activities of improving children’s attainment and life chances.
In addition, as part of the work undertaken for the initial pilot projects, the Department reviewed the funding for PFI projects to ensure that the contribution that local authorities and schools make to the unitary charge was affordable. This had the effect of increasing the level of support from central Government for PFI projects than was the case prior to BSF.
Education
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 16 January 2008, Official Report, columns 1269-70W, on education, what the names are of the four unregistered settings referred to in the answer. [182608]
Jim Knight: The current registration requirements only apply to independent schools that offer full-time education. There is currently no requirement for part-time providers to register. As every child is entitled to full-time education, parents, local authorities or others will, where appropriate, need to supplement part-time provision to ensure that children receive their full education entitlement.
There is currently no statutory definition of ‘part-time’ and ‘full-time’ education in terms of hours or days spent studying and we understand that the providers named as follows provide a large proportion, and in some cases all, of their pupils’ education provision. We believe that settings where children receive a substantial proportion of their education should be regulated with a light touch compared to schools in the maintained sector, but that it should still be ensured that the premises are safe. We think it important that all necessary personnel suitability checks are completed, appropriate child welfare arrangements are in place, and children learn and make progress. We are confident that any goodquality provision will meet the independent school standards as they are flexible enough to cover many different types of provision. There is no requirement to follow the national curriculum, or to employ teachers with qualified teacher status, for example.
We have no comprehensive record of part-time providers of education. The responses to our consultation suggested that there are some settings we are unaware of that may need to register under current proposals. Before the new legislation comes into force,
we will work with any institution that will need to register to ensure it is clear about our requirements and time scales.
The four unregistered settings, in the same order as they appeared in my previous answer, are as follows:
Tyndale Academy;
Headstart Learning Centre;
The Children’s Garden;
Kid’s Company.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what were the 10 subjects most frequently studied to GCSE level in each category of school in the last period for which figures are available; and how many students studied each subject. [181033]
Jim Knight: The following tables show the 10 subjects most studied to GCSE level in 2007 for each type of school. Numbers and percentages are provided. The overall figures for England are also included. National figures for all subjects can be found in the SFR “GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07 (Revised)”, available at
| GCSE attempts and achievements( 1) in selected subjects of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4( 2) in schools (number), years: 2006/07( 3) (Revised), coverage: England | |||
| Community School | |||
| Subject | Number of attempts | Percentage of pupils attempting subject | |
| Voluntary Aided School | |||
| Subject | Number of attempts | Percentage of pupils attempting subject | |
| Voluntary Controlled School | |||
| Subject | Number of attempts | Percentage of pupils attempting subject | |
| Foundation School | |||
| Subject | Number of attempts | Percentage of pupils attempting subject | |
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