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25 Mar 2008 : Column 108W—continued
Discrimination
David T.C. Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many claims for discrimination, based on (a) sex, (b) race and (c) sexual orientation, were brought by members of his Department and its predecessor and settled (i) in and (ii) out of court in each of the last five years. [194975]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested is as follows:
| Sex | Race | Sexual orientation | Settled in court | Settled out of court | |
Educational Visits
Gregory Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what percentage of A-level biology students were not offered the opportunity to conduct course-related fieldwork in the school year 1995-96; [189207]
(2) what percentage of GCSE science students took a residential field trip in the school year 1995-96. [189208]
Jim Knight: The Department for Children, Schools and Families does not collect this information broken down by subject and qualification.
I refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 21 February 2008, Official Report, column 853W.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Michael Gove:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families in which maintained
mainstream schools fewer than 30 per cent. of pupils achieved five A*-C GCSEs including English and mathematics in the latest period for which figures are available. [195305]
Jim Knight: This information can be found in the key stage 4 achievement and attainment tables which have been placed in the House Library.
Health Education: Sex
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of sex education in England; and if he will make a statement. [195969]
Jim Knight: The Department has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of sex education in England. However, as part of the Children's Plan we have given a commitment to review best practice in effective sex and relationship (SRE) and how it is delivered in schools. We have listened to young people and recognise that many feel that they do not currently have the knowledge they need to make safe and responsible choices about relationships and sexual health. The review is being overseen by the SRE Review Steering Group which I co-chair alongside a member of the UK Youth Parliament and a member of the National Council for Educational Excellence. We are involving young people fully in the review to make sure that future SRE better their needs.
Local Education Authorities: Finance
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent calculating the funding allocations to each local education authority in 2007-08. [196259]
Jim Knight: The Department does not hold the information requested.
National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour and Attendance
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on the National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour and Attendance since its inception; and how many teachers have been enrolled on the programme. [195970]
Kevin Brennan: The Department has spent about £6 million on the National Programme for Specialist Leaders of Behaviour and Attendance since its development in 2005. A total of 3,877 teachers and other staff have enrolled on the programme to date.
Physical Education: Standards
Mr. Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) if he will place in the Library a copy of the guidance provided to school sports partnerships on what constitutes high quality physical education and sport; [195431]
(2) what definition of high quality physical education and sport he uses in relation to schoolchildren; [195432]
(3) what percentage of schoolchildren participate in two hours of sport during curriculum time; [195383]
(4) what the average time spent by schoolchildren on sport during curriculum time was in each of the last five years. [195384]
Kevin Brennan: The annual PE and School Sport Survey was introduced in 2003/04 and collects data relating to participation in PE and school sport. Over the last four years, pupils in School Sport Partnership schools spent the following average curriculum times on PE in a typical week:
| minutes | |
In 2006/07, 70 per cent. of the pupils received two hours of curriculum PE in a typical week.
The annual PE and School Sport Survey is accompanied by guidance to support the completion of the questionnaire. The definition of high quality PE and out of hours school sport is:
this produces young people with the skills, understanding, desire and commitment to continue to improve and achieve in a range of PE, sport and health-enhancing physical activities, in line with their abilities, as set out in the ‘High Quality PE and Sport for Young People’ guide
Copies of the guide ‘High Quality PE and Sport for Young People’ have been placed in the House Libraries.
Press
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost of the press offices of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) its non-departmental public bodies were in each year since 1996-97; what the cost was in each quarter since 1 April 2007; and if he will make a statement. [189656]
Kevin Brennan: The information is as follows:
(a) The Department for Children Schools and Families was established in June 2007. We are therefore unable to provide costs prior to April 2007. Information for the current financial year is not yet available.
(b) The Department does not have any agencies.
(c) We do not hold costs for our non-departmental public bodies.
Pupil Exclusions
Mr. Vara: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils were excluded from school in each of the last five years. [195428]
Kevin Brennan: The available information can be found in Tables 1 and 2 in the Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools and Exclusion Appeals in England 2005/06 have been placed in the House Libraries.
SFR on the Departments website at:
The fixed period exclusion figures were only collected from 2003/04.
Redundancy: Pay
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 8 October 2007, Official Report, column 381W, on redundancy pay, how much was spent by his Department on voluntary redundancy payments in the last 12 months prior to 30 June. [166284]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested can only be provided in financial years. The total cost of voluntary early release payments for the former Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in the last financial year is as follows:
| Financial year | Total cost to DfES (£ million) |
The former DfES commitment for voluntary early releases in the 2007-08 financial year was £2.591 million.
Schools: Admissions
Mr. Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will amend the Schools Admissions Code to limit more explicitly its religious content of admissions criteria. [195767]
Jim Knight: As announced in the Children's Plan in December 2007, we are reviewing the school application and allocation process and are considering how admissions should be managed as part of that review. We will consult on a range of proposals as a result of this review to further strengthen the admissions system in the summer.
All admission authorities, including those for maintained faith schools, have to act in accordance with the School Admissions Code and admissions legislation, to ensure fair access for all. Every school must consider all applications and ensure that families are not discouraged from applying.
Schools: Crime
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effect of crime levels in schools on the decisions prospective students make in determining which school they will attend. [195674]
Kevin Brennan:
Recent research published by Sheffield Hallam University on secondary school admissions in 2006 (Research Report DCSF-RR020) which included a survey of parents’ experiences with the admissions system, indicated that common reasons for parents favouring their preferred secondary school included that the school has a good reputation in the community (40 per cent.) and that the school has good discipline/behaviour (19 per cent.). Reasons for parents not applying to their nearest maintained school
included that the school has a poor reputation in the community (38 per cent.) and that the school has a problem with behaviour/discipline (21 per cent.). Both of these reasons could be linked to parents' fears about crime, but we have no direct evidence for this. As the Practitioners' Group on School Behaviour and Discipline has noted, incidents of the most serious misbehaviour in schools remain rare and are carried out by a very small proportion of pupils.
Schools: Culture
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many hours of cultural activity a week are planned to be offered to schoolchildren in school hours. [195802]
Jim Knight: The “Find Your Talent” programme will trial different ways of offering children a range of high quality cultural experiences, including ways of ensuring that all children are able to experience at least five hours a week of cultural activities in and out of school, and provided by a range of partners in addition to schools.
There is already much cultural activity taking place and the pilots will build on this. Rather than identifying one particular model, the pilots will test a variety of approaches to a cultural offer over the next three years.
Schools: Sports
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which projects have received funding from the Sports Champions Mentoring Programme; and what criteria are being used to assess the effectiveness of this programme. [173851]
Kevin Brennan: The information is as follows:
Sport England provides £300,000 per year to fund “Sporting Champions” an initiative which brings world-class athletes face to face with young people to inspire and motivate them to participate in sport.
The scheme provides around 450 visits per year to community organisations and schools free of charge.
Evaluation for this work is undertaken by the Sporting Champion and the host organisation after each visit. Longer term impact studies are also undertaken with a sample of visits.
Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme
Between 2005/06 and 2007/08 the Department for Culture Media and Sport has provided over £650,000 to fund the Respect Athlete Mentoring Programme (RAMP). The programme is delivered jointly by Sport England (through its delivery agent, Creating Excellence) and the Youth Sport Trust.
RAMP uses elite sports people to mentor young people within deprived areas who are at risk of social exclusion.
The project uses a computer-based data collection programme to collect a range of statistics about the behaviours and attitudes of the young people involved. This is backed up by continuous dialogue and feedback from the mentor.
Secondary Education: Teachers
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of secondary school teachers of (a) physics, (b) chemistry, (c) biology, (d) mathematics, (e) history and (g) modern languages who qualified in each year since 1992 are teaching full-time. [195920]
Jim Knight: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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