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31 Mar 2008 : Column 690W—continued


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 in each of the last 10 years. [196692]

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. of pupils achieving 5 A*-C GCSE grades can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

N umber of maintained mainstream schools( 1) with fewer than 15%, 20%, 25%, 30% and 40% of pupils achieving at least 5 A*-C GCSE grades (or equivalent) in 1996/97 to 2006/07
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Below 15 per cent.

186

180

128

100

74

56

42

27

11

7

Below 20 per cent.

363

325

278

242

196

157

112

72

40

15

4

Below 25 per cent.

619

553

488

437

369

294

224

186

110

47

17

Below 30 per cent.

899

828

736

662

819

499

410

843

230

134

64

Below 40 per cent.

1,491

1,418

1,278

1,206

1,128

1,026

923

861

674

487

306

Total number of schools

3,169

3,151

3,131

3,119

3,102

3,099

3,095

3,095

3,095

3,072

3,045

(1) Figures relate to all maintained mainstream schools published in Achievement and Attainment Tables, including academies, city technology colleges and city colleges for the technology of arts.

Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what the 10 most commonly studied, non-compulsory subjects taken to GCSE level were in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by type of school; and how many pupils studied each such subject to GCSE level in the same period; [196992]

(2) which 10 subjects were most commonly studied at A-Level in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by type of institution; and how many pupils took each such subject in the same period. [196993]

Jim Knight: The readily available information has been placed in the House Library.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what proportion of 16 year olds were entered for (a) GCSE English, (b) GCSE mathematics and (c) one or more GCSEs in 2007; [197253]

(2) what proportion of 16 year olds were entered for fewer that (a) five GCSEs and (b) five GCSEs including English and mathematics in 2007; and if he will make a statement. [197254]

Jim Knight: Numbers and proportions of pupils attempting GCSEs in each subject at the end of Key Stage 4 can be found in table 11 of the January Statistical First Release 'GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07 (Revised)', available at:

The proportion of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 entered for fewer than five GCSEs was 5.6 per cent. The proportion of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 entered for fewer than five GCSEs including English and mathematics was 9.0 per cent.

These figures are not published for 16-year-old pupils; the figures provided are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. The end of Key Stage 4 signals the end of compulsory education, and the majority of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 are aged 15 at the start of the academic year.

General Certificate of Secondary Education: Home Schooling

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of children educated at home had achieved five GCSEs graded at A* to C by the age of 16 years in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [196575]

Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Pupils who are educated at home and for whom the local authority is financially responsible are included in the Alternative Provision Survey. However, it is not possible to separately identify these pupils as they are reported in the category “Not a school” which also includes pupils educated in community homes or units, FE colleges or voluntary sector providers.

Head Teachers

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools were without a permanent head teacher for more than three months in the past 12 months. [196574]


31 Mar 2008 : Column 691W

Jim Knight: The information is not available in the format requested.


31 Mar 2008 : Column 692W

The following table provides the number of temporarily filled full-time head teacher posts in local authority maintained schools in England, January 1998 to 2007.

Temporarily filled full-time head teacher posts( 1) in local authority maintained schools in England by phase, January of each year
Temporarily filled as a percentage of head teachers in post
LEA maintained only All maintained Number of posts

1998(2)

1999(2)

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2007

Nursery and primary (percentage)

2.5

2.2

2.1

2.7

2.1

2.3

2.4

2.7

2.9

3.0

520

Secondary (percentage)

1.8

1.6

2.3

2.3

2.0

2.4

2.2

2.7

2.3

2.3

80

Special (percentage)

4.2

3.8

5.3

4.2

3.7

3.8

4.2

3.9

4.9

3.8

40

Total (percentage)

2.5

2.2

2.3

2.7

2.1

2.4

2.5

2.7

2.9

2.9

640

Total vacancies (number)

580

490

540

650

520

540

570

610

650

640

(1) Temporarily filled full-time permanent appointments. The definition used is wider than the DCSF standard vacancy definition used elsewhere (bullet points b. and c. as follows are in addition to the normal definition). A post is included in this table:
a. where there is no incumbent who is expected to return to the post;
b. whether or not filled on a temporary basis, i.e. either without a contract or on a contract of less than one year;
c. whether or not advertised; and
d. where an appointment has been made but not yet taken up.
(2) Excludes vacancies in schools that were grant maintained.
Note:
Totals may not appear to equal the sum of the component parts because of rounding.
Source:
618g survey.

Inclusive Technology

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the value is of each contract his Department holds with Inclusive Technology. [196650]

Kevin Brennan: The Department does not hold a central record of the nature of individual agreements (be they contracts, consultancies or other services) nor of their value. However, our financial records show that the Department has not made any payments to this company in either of the last two financial years.

Ipsos MORI

Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what payments his Department and its predecessor have made to Ipsos MORI in the last 24 months; and for what purposes. [193849]

Jim Knight: Details of the amount paid to Ipsos MORI by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and its predecessor, the Department for Education and Skills for 2006-07 and 2007-08 are set out as follows:

£

2006/07

393,691.00

2007 to 18 March 2008

475,113.58


The expenditure relates to payments recorded in the Department’s integrated financial information system and credited against Ipsos MORI and its predecessor Ipsos - RSL Ltd.

The purpose of the expenditure relates to a contract in connection with Teachers TV and covers audience measurement, impact and channel evaluation.

Ministers: Correspondence

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many times a Minister from his Department has written to all (a) primary head teachers, (b) secondary head teachers and (c) local education authorities since 18 December 2007; and if he will make a statement. [196571]

Jim Knight: It is departmental policy not to send written communications to schools or local authorities. All correspondence is via email.

We send a regular email once a week to local authorities. There have been 12 sent since 18 December 2007. On occasion we send a bespoke e-mail containing an item of significant importance. There have been three sent since 18 December 2007. We also send a Chief Executive update once a quarter. There has been one sent since 18 December 2007.

We send a regular fortnightly email to schools. There have been one sent since 18 December 2007. On occasion it is necessary to send a bespoke email containing an item of significant importance (or to schools falling within a particular category e.g. admission authorities). Four have been sent since 18 December 2007.


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