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19 Feb 2008 : Column 540W—continued
| Number of pupils resident in the Enfield area who are attending special schools, either within or outside the borough( 1) , p osition in January each year 2003 to 2007, Enfield local authority | |||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| (1) Excludes independent special schools. Source: School Census. | |||||
Sure Start Programme: Tyne and Wear
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many families have received (a) healthcare and (b) other support from the Sure Start programme in Houghton and Washington East in the last five years. [181825]
Beverley Hughes: Data on how many families have accessed health and other support services from the Sure Start programmes over the last five years is not collected centrally. Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs) have assessed their own progress against a range of outcomes for children and families as part of their local level monitoring and evaluation. Local evaluation reports can be obtained directly from the programme or from the National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS) website www.ness.bbk.ac.uk The report for Sure Start Hetton and Houghton in 2005 shows that, based on 95 responses out of a survey sample of 240, 93 per cent. were satisfied or very satisfied with their antenatal services, 96 per cent. (of 58 responses) were happy with the baby clinic, and 90 per cent. with the health visiting services. The 2005 report for Sure Start Monument shows that, based on 92 responses out of a survey sample of 260, 98 per cent. were satisfied or very satisfied with their antenatal services, 92 per cent. with the baby clinic, 91 per cent. with the health visiting service and 90 per cent. with their GP surgery. The information in these reports is locally collected and is not validated by the NESS team or the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Teachers: Food Technology
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers qualified in food technology are employed in each London borough. [185733]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not currently available.
It is expected that the new School Workforce will be in place in 2010 and it will provide more detailed information on qualifications of teachers.
Teachers: Qualifications
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to bring forward specific proposals for the structure of the proposed Masters degree for the teaching profession. [186764]
Jim Knight: As we said in the Children's Plan, we will work with the social partnership for school work force reform and with the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to agree how we realise our ambitions to make teaching a Masters level profession. We will publish more detailed proposals for the structure of the Masters degree as soon as we are ready to do so.
Trade Unions
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what meetings he has had with trade union officials since 1 July 2007; on what dates; and with which trade unions. [179868]
Kevin Brennan: Ministers meet many people as part of the process of policy development. It is not normal practice to disclose details of such meetings.
Truancy
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the rate of unauthorised absence was in each school in each year since 2003; and if he will make a statement. [164423]
Jim Knight: The information requested is available as part of the Achievement and Attainment tables and can be found at:
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils took unauthorised absence in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007, broken down by local authority. [182749]
Kevin Brennan:
The rate of overall absence in primary schools in 1996/97 was 6.1 per cent.; this has reduced to 5.3 per cent. for the first two terms of the 2006/07 academic year, the latest period for which
information is available. For secondary schools the overall absence rate fell from 9.1 per cent. to 7.8 per cent. over the same period.
The standardisation of codes for pupil absence and attendance in 2006 has lead to a tightening of authorisation of absence from schools, correspondent with an increase in unauthorised absence in the context of falling overall absence.
For primary schools the unauthorised absence rate in 1996/97 was 0.5 per cent.; for the combined autumn term 2006 and spring term 2007 (the latest period for which figures are available) this had changed to 0.52 per cent. For secondary schools the rate of unauthorised absence changed from 1.1 per cent. in 1996/97 to 1.46 per cent. in autumn term 2006 and spring term 2007.
Tables showing the absence rates by local authority for both 1996/97 and combined data for autumn term 2006 and spring term 2007 have been placed in the House Library.
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many local authorities have a dedicated local pupil tracking officer to identify children missing from education. [185955]
Jim Knight: All local authorities have met the requirement to have a named individual responsible for identifying children missing education and their role includes proactively tracking pupils. Local authorities use different job titles for this responsibility which some have chosen to call pupil tracking officers.
Vocational Training: Finance
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the total value is of the fund set aside to support grants given under the Train to Gain skills development programme. [184496]
Mr. Lammy: I have been asked to reply.
The Train to Gain service is designed to meet employers’ specific skill needs and thus is flexible in what it can fund, but there is no ‘Train to Gain skills development programme’ and thus no funds set aside for support grants given under it.
In 2006/07 we invested £270 million in Train to Gain supporting directly delivered learning. The expansion of Train to Gain means the budget is £524 million in 2007/08 and is projected to rise to over £1 billion in 2010/11.
We have set out our ambitions to reach more employers and to drive up levels of investment in skills in Train to Gain: A Plan for Growth, copies of which are in the Library of the House.
Work Experience
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the 10 types of work experience placement most frequently attended by schoolchildren were in the last year for which figures are available. [181084]
Jim Knight: 95 per cent. of learners participate in work-experience at key stage 4 (years 10 and 11) which represents around 550,000 learners each year. Information on types of placement is not held centrally by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The Learning and Skills Council is responsible for managing the network of Education Business Link Organisation Consortia through which work-experience is brokered and which hold information about the range and type of work-experience placements. Mark Haysom, the chief executive of the LSC has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Mark Haysom, dated 4 February 2008:
I am writing in response to your Parliamentary Question that asked; “What the 10 types of work experience placement most frequently attended by schoolchildren were in the last year for which figures are available.”
The Learning and Skills Council is responsible for contracting with Education Business Link Organisation Consortia through which work experience placements for 14-16 year olds are brokered.
The last year for which figures are available is the 2005-2006 academic year; in that year the 10 sectors which had the highest numbers of young people placements were:
Education/Training
Retail
Business
Catering
Personal Service
Leisure Services
Community Care
Engineering
Mechanical
Construction
These placements represent 92.4% of the total number of work experience placements for the year.
Young People: Sports
Hugh Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the impact of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 on 17-year-olds playing open age sport. [185747]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 18 February 2008]: We have received useful feedback on the issue of under 18-year-olds playing in open age sport from stakeholders in the sports sector during the course of last year. It is not our intention to make any activity a regulated activity unnecessarily, particularly if that means children could be denied access to a wide range of sporting activity.
As a consequence of feedback from stakeholders we are currently consulting on the proposal that activities relating to the teaching, training and instruction of children aged 16-17 years should not be considered to be regulated activity, where the 16 and 17-year-old is part of an activity aimed at mixed age groups which includes adults. The proposals can be found in paragraphs 3.11-3.12. of the consultation document on the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006: Independent Safeguarding Authority scheme which is available on the Department for Children Schools and
Families consultation website. The consultation will run until the 20 February 2008.
The Department for Children Schools and Families, Department of Health and Home Office will continue to consulting widely with stakeholders including sports bodies and organisations and will continue working with the Department for Culture Media and Sport and sports bodies to help inform Regulations and prepare for implementation of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
Young People: Unemployed
Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) 16 and 17-year-olds and (b) 18 to 24-year-olds of each sex were not in education, employment or training in the latest period for which figures are available. [185384]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 7 February 2008]: Estimates of participation in education, training and employment for those aged 16-18 are published annually by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DGSF) in a Statistical First release (SFR) each June. The most recent SFR relates to end 2006 and can be found at the following link:
Table 1 shows the numbers and proportions of academic age 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England at end 2006.
| Table 1: Proportion and number of young people aged 16 and 17 not in education, employment or training (NEET) by gender in England , end 2006( 1) | ||||
| Age 16 | Age 17 | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| (1 )Provisional. | ||||
The DGSF does not publish estimates of those NEET above academic age 18. However, it is possible to produce estimates for 18 to 24-year-olds from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Estimates for England from the LFS, relating to the first quarter of 2007, are shown in Table 2. It is important to note that the LFS will not produce estimates that directly match those from the Department's Participation SFR, and that they will be subject to sampling error and respondent error. The LFS estimates of population size by cohort also differ from the Participation SFR. LFS estimates are also provided for young people of academic age 16-18 for comparison with the Department's estimates above.
| Table 2: Proportion and number of young people aged 18-24 not in education, employment or training (NEET) by gender in England, Labour Force Survey, Quarter 1, 2007 | ||
| Number | Percentage | |
Wales
Departmental Correspondence
Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how many people were employed in his Department’s ministerial correspondence unit in each of the last five years; and how much it cost to run the unit, including utilities and other expenses, in each year. [187049]
Mr. Paul Murphy: The Wales Office has a single correspondence unit which deals with all forms of correspondence, ministerial and other, as well as related issues. This unit’s staff complement over the last five years has been three.
Many other Wales Office staff will work on ministerial correspondence as part of their work. It is not possible to quantify this.
Our costs are not readily available in the format requested, and obtaining these could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.
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