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31 Mar 2008 : Column 684W—continued
Citizenship: Qualifications
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what plans he has to develop (a)(i) full and (ii) joint citizenship GCSEs and (b) citizenship A-levels; [197561]
(2) what plans the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has to improve standards for citizenship teaching in schools, with particular reference to the development of consistent practice in assessing, recording and reporting student outcomes. [197556]
Jim Knight: The new A-level in Citizenship Studies was accredited for use by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in 2007 and is now available from the Awarding Body, AQA. First teaching begins in September 2008.
The GGSEs for all national curriculum subjects are currently under review. It is likely that awarding bodies will submit full course GGSE qualifications for Citizenship Studies this year. If so, accreditation by QCA will be completed in the autumn of 2008 and first teaching would begin in September 2009. It is expected that the awarding bodies will also continue to offer their short course qualifications in Citizenship Studies.
Currently three awarding bodies, AQA, OCR and Edexcel offer short courses in Citizenship Studies. These have been used by schools since 2002. Last summer 75,000 students took the short course GCSE in Citizenship Studies. This summer it is estimated that 95,000 students will take the qualification. Citizenship Studies remains the fastest growing GCSE qualification
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for developing the curriculum. Citizenship has been a statutory national curriculum subject since 2002. The recent review of secondary
education provided an opportunity to look at the clarity of teaching requirements for this subject alongside all the other subjects in the national curriculum. The new secondary curriculum for citizenship was published in August 2007 for first teaching from September 2008,
Alongside the new curriculum, level descriptions for Citizenship were published for the first time. These offer a clearer framework of standards and were developed in consultation with teachers and the subject community and build on the work QCA undertook in 2006 which led to the publication “Assessing citizenship at key stage 3. Example assessment activities QCA/06/2294”.
QCA is currently working with groups of schools on exemplification materials and support for teachers in using the new level descriptions. Schools will be required to use the new levels descriptions for citizenship to make judgments about student attainment from the summer of 2011, this being the first year the first cohort of pupils will complete the new key stage 3 programme of study.
Citizenship: Teachers
Mr. Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many citizenship teachers studied citizenship (a) at initial teacher training and (b) in continuing professional development. [197562]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Civil Service Appeal Board
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of appeals by employees of (a) his Department and (b) its agencies were (i) heard and (ii) upheld by the Civil Service Appeal Board in each of the last 10 years; how much was awarded in compensation by the Board to each successful appellant in each year; what the reason was for each compensation award; how many appellants were reinstated by the Board in each year; and what the reason was for each (A) dismissal and (B) reinstatement. [192526]
Kevin Brennan: The information sought is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Departmental Anti-Semitism
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many officials from his Department, broken down by grade, attended the cross-government working group on anti-Semitism on 15 November; and if he will make a statement. [167393]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester (Mr. Dhanda), on 22 November 2007, Official R eport, column 1012W.
Departmental Domestic Visits
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what visits he made to (a) Harrogate International Centre, (b) International Conference Centre, Birmingham, (c) Manchester Central, (d) Scottish Exhibitional and Conference Centre, Glasgow, (e) Edinburgh International Conference Centre, (f) Bournemouth International Conference Centre, (g) the Brighton Centre, Brighton, (h) the Riviera Centre, Torquay, (i) Queen Elizabeth Centre, London, (j) Excel Conference Centre, Docklands, London, and (k) Business Design Centre, Islington, London, in the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2007; and what events he attended at each. [197188]
Ed Balls: Since the establishment of the Department for Children, Schools and Families on 28 June 2007 and up until 31 December 2007, I have visited the following establishments in my ministerial capacity: (a) International Conference Centre, Birmingham on 29 November 2007 to attend the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust Annual Conference, (b) Bournemouth International Conference Centre on 14 November 2007 to attend the Youth Justice Board Annual Conference, (c) Queen Elizabeth Centre, London on 10 July 2007 to attend the NASUWT Presidential Reception, 15 November 2007 to attend the NCSL New Heads Conference, 13 December 2007 to attend the NASUWT Presidential Reception, (d) Business Design Centre Islington, London on 18 July 2007 to attend a National Children’s Bureau Conference.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if his Department will (a) follow the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) guidelines and (b) display ICRA’s label on the websites for which it is responsible. [191780]
Kevin Brennan: The Department is committed to safety online for all users, including children and young people. We are already makes use of, or are working towards implementing, the ICRA guidelines and the use of the label across our portfolio of websites.
Departmental Public Expenditure
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for what reasons his Department’s spending detailed in the Budget 2008 Red Book was lower than that set out in the 2007 Pre-Budget Report; and if he will make a statement. [196431]
Ed Balls: The Department for Children, Schools and Families’ spending plan set out in the Budget 2008 Red Book (see Table C11) is the same as set in the 2007 pre-Budget report (see Table B13). For the 2008-09 to 2010-11 period, DCSF’s resource budget will be respectively £46.9 billion/£49.2 billion/£51.9 billion and the capital budget will be £6.0 billion/£6.4 billion/£7.7 billion. Changes to DCSF’s 2007-08 outturn estimate are due to underspends, which will be available for the Department to use in future years.
Departmental Publications
Mr. David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance is issued to members of his Department on the authorship and publication on the internet of material relating to their official duties; and if he will make a statement. [196735]
Kevin Brennan: Members of the Department use the Department’s website to communicate a range of policy information and related resources. The Department has established an online style guide which is available to all staff.
Family Fund: Finance
Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much was allocated to the Family Fund in each of the past 10 years; how much has been allocated for (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [171228]
Kevin Brennan: The Government have allocated, in relation to England, the following amounts to the Family Fund for grants to disabled children and their families:
| £ million | |
For 2008-09, the Department for Children, Schools and Families will increase funding to £24.4 million to enable the fund to extend its grants to disabled children and young people aged 16 and over.
Foster Care
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the level of diversity of foster care providers; and if he will make a statement. [196434]
Kevin Brennan [holding answer 25 March 2008]: A recent review of fostering provision commissioned by my Department reported that as at 31 March 2005, there were 188 independent fostering agencies, 146 total authority fostering agencies, 46 voluntary fostering agencies and five agencies categorised as “other”(1).
(1) Source :
RW74, DfES Children’s Services: Children’s Homes and Fostering (published by DfES/DCSF on 31 August 2006)
Further Education
Mr. Chaytor:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the post-16 education and training participation rate is in (a)
Bexley, (b) Bournemouth, (c) Buckinghamshire, (d) Kent, (e) Kingston, (f) Lincolnshire, (g) Medway, (h) Poole, (i) Reading, (j) Slough, (k) Southend, (l) Sutton, (m) Torbay, (n) Trafford and (o) the Wirral; and what the equivalent figures are for each of their statistical neighbours in each case. [196182]
Jim Knight: Estimates of participation in education, training and employment in England for those aged 16-18 are published annually by the Department in a Statistical First Release (SFR) each June (see following link).
The Department also publishes local estimates of participation in England alongside the national figures, but these are only available for young people of academic age 16 and 17. The local participation estimates cover those in full-time education, part-time education, and Work Based Learning, but do not identify young people in employer funded training(1) or other education and training(2) apart from those on a part-time education course.
The most recent local estimates of education and Work Based Learning for local authorities relate to the end of 2005. Tables showing the rates and absolute numbers for 16 and 17-year-olds in the local authorities requested and their statistical neighbours are placed in the House Libraries.
(1 )Employer funded training covers employees who have received training in the past four weeks, other than those in Work Based Learning.
(2 )Other education and training covers young people who are studying but are not included in other categories. For example those attending independent colleges or training centres, or those at any college in part-time study not reported as released from job.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Chaytor: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which schools in each local authority achieved fewer than 30 per cent. A* to C grades at GCSE in each of the last two years; and what the (a) raw scores and (b) value added scores of each school were in each of those years. [195594]
Jim Knight: The percentage of pupils in each school achieving 5 A* to C grades at GCSE (or equivalent) and their scores can be found in the Achievement and Attainment Tables in the House of Commons Library.
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools had fewer than (a) 25 per cent., (b) 30 per cent., (c) 35 per cent. and (d) 40 per cent. of children obtaining fewer than five A* to C grades in GCSE including mathematics and English in each of the last 10 years. [196691]
Jim Knight: The information on the number of maintained mainstream schools is given in the following table.
The number of schools with fewer than 35 per cent. and 40 per cent. of pupils achieving five A*-C GGSE grades, including English and Mathematics, can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| N umber of maintained mainstream schools( 1 ) with fewer than 15 per cent., 20 per cent., 25 per cent., and 30 per cent. of pupils achieving at least 5 A*-C GCSE grades (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics, in 1996 / 97 to 2006 / 07 | |||||||||||
| 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |
| (1) Figures relate to all maintained mainstream schools published in Achievement and Attainment Tables, including Academic City Technology Colleges and City Colleges for the Technology of Arts. | |||||||||||
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