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3 Mar 2008 : Column 2154W—continued
General Certificate of Secondary Education: Standards
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils obtained five A* to C grades at GCSE, excluding equivalents, applied GCSEs, media studies, law, psychology, statistics, physical education and humanities GCSE in the latest period for which figures are available. [182761]
Jim Knight: The information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
General Certificate of Secondary Education: Stockton on Tees
Ms Dari Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of children in Stockton left school with five A* to C grade GCSEs in (a) 1997 and (b) 2007. [188936]
Jim Knight: The percentage of 15-year-old pupils in Stockton that left school with five A* to C grades at GCSE or equivalent in 1997 was 39.1 per cent., this rose to 60.0 per cent. in 2007. The England figure for 1997 was 45.1 per cent. rising to 60.8 per cent. in 2007. The latest information can be found in the SFR “GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07” (Revised) at:
Home Education
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what support a child aged 14 years who is home educated and attends a local college on a part-time basis is entitled to receive towards the cost of course fees. [186174]
Jim Knight: We do not provide support towards the cost of course fees for home educated children. Although we encourage local authorities to provide support to home educating families where resources permit, authorities are under no duty to pay the course fees of a home educated child. Parents who elect to educate their child at home must be prepared to assume full financial responsibility.
National Vocational Qualifications: Disadvantaged
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils (a) eligible and (b) not eligible for free school meals were entered for a GNVQ qualification in 2007. [182756]
Jim Knight: This information is not held centrally by the Department and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Primary Education: Catering
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of primary schools in each local authority area have no kitchen facilities for producing hot meals; and if he will make a statement. [187150]
Jim Knight:
The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not collect this information. However, in its second annual survey of take-up of school meals in England, published in September 2007,
the School Food Trust collected data by region and the data are available in the following table.
Providing a hot meal does not require every school to have a kitchen. There are several ways of reheating food on school premises, such as microwave ovens; or schools may use a centralised preparation and delivery service.
Over the next three years, we are providing a record £21.9 billion of capital support for investment in school buildings. Much of this funding is devolved to local authorities and schools for their local priorities, which can include installing or improving school kitchens and dining areas. As part of this funding, we are making available from April 2008 £150 million of targeted capital grant to those authorities with high need.
| Facilities for food preparation in primary and secondary schools in England (percentage of schools ) , by region | |||||
| Percentage | |||||
| No facilities: | |||||
| Region | Full production kitchen | Regen or mini kitchen | Hot food transported from another school | Hot food transported from another source | Sandwich/cold food only |
| Notes: 1. Base (unweighted) primary: 93; secondary: 79 2. Analysis: weighted by number of schools catered for | |||||
Private Education: Specialised Diplomas
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many independent schools he expects to offer the full range of diplomas from (a) September 2008 and (b) September 2009; and if he will make a statement. [189033]
Jim Knight: At present no independent schools are part of consortia planning to deliver Diplomas in September 2008. The outcome of applications for September 2009 will be announced in April.
The Government encourage independent schools to deliver Diplomas. We held a 14-19 Diploma conference for independent schools in December 2007 which was well attended and are planning a seminar in April this year for those independent schools which have expressed an interest in greater involvement.
Pupils Exclusions: Suffolk
Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students have been permanently excluded from schools in Suffolk in each year since 1997. [169964]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 25 February, Official Report, column 1279W.
Pupils: Diabetes
Anne Milton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effect of schools not allowing their staff to administer medicines such as insulin on the management of diabetes among pupils. [176982]
Jim Knight: This Department has not made such an assessment.
Our guidance to schools, 'Managing Medicines in Schools and Early Years Settings', issued jointly with the Department of Health in 2005, encourages schools and local authorities to develop local policies on the management of pupil's medicines and on supporting pupils with medical needs, taking account of local resources and their various responsibilities.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the proportion of children entitled to free schools meals that live in an area where more than 45 per cent. of children are living in families in receipt of benefits; and if he will make a statement. [187140]
Jim Knight: Free school meals provide additional help to children in non-working families (where the adults either do not work, or work for less than 16 hours per week). These families are reliant on ‘welfare support payments’ and are not able to claim the additional working tax credit’ that is available to low income working families (adults working 16+ hours per week).
The requested information is set out in the following table:
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