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31 Mar 2008 : Column 701W—continued
John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools were closed on the grounds of poor performance in each of the last 10 years. [197465]
Jim Knight: The Department does not hold information on the reasons for school closure. School place planning is the statutory responsibility of the local authority (LA). Each LA must strive to secure high standards, diversity of provision and increased opportunities for parental choice. They must review school place provision regularly, ensuring there are sufficient places to meet the needs of the population. Where the LA propose to make any changes they must publish statutory proposals which are decided under local decision making arrangements and Ministers have no direct role in the process.
Since 1997, 264 schools placed in the Ofsted special measures category have closed. In addition since 2005, 14 schools placed in the Ofsted inadequate category of requiring significant improvement have closed.
Secondary Education: Admissions
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what undertakings on school placements have been given to parents on Canvey Island following the decision to close Furtherwick school. [196961]
Jim Knight: School place planning is a local matter. Where changes are proposed, a statutory process must be followed.
I understand that following a period of statutory consultation to address declining pupil numbers in Essex, Essex county council published a statutory proposal on 7 March 2007. The public notice stated that the following arrangements for pupils affected by the proposal to close Furtherwick Park School from 31 August 2011 would be made:
Pupils currently attending Furtherwick Park School were to complete their education at the school;
Pupils admitted to Year 7 in September 2007 were to spend all of key stage 3 (Years 7, 8 and 9) at Furtherwick Park, but transfer onto the roll of Castle View School, or to other schools which have places available, in September 2010 for the remaining two years of their statutory education (Years 10 and 11);
No new pupils are to be admitted to Furtherwick Park from 1 September 2008. To accommodate pupils who might otherwise have attended Furtherwick Park, Castle View School is to expand to admit up to 240 pupils from September 2008 into Year 7.
Essex School Organisation Committee on 15 May 2007 approved the closure of Furtherwick Park School with effect from August 2011; an increase in the published admission number from 180 to 240 to Castle View School from 2008-09; and the enlargement and relocation of Castle View School from 904 to 1,200 places into new purpose built accommodation on the current Furtherwick Park School site with effect from September 2011.
Secondary Education: Teaching Methods
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans there are to introduce small group tuition into secondary schools. [180468]
Jim Knight: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 25 March 2008, Official Report, column 113W.
Special Educational Needs
Miss Kirkbride: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of children have special educational needs; and what forecasts there are for the likely percentage in future years. [196261]
Jim Knight: Details of the percentage of children with special educational needs (SEN) are set out in the Statistical First Release “Special Educational Needs in England, January 2007” which was published on 26 June 2007 and is available from:
In January 2007, 2.8 per cent. of pupils had a statement of SEN(1) and 16.4 per cent. of pupils had been identified as having special educational needs but without a statement(2). Figures based on the January 2008 school census will be published in due course.
The Department has not made recent estimates of the percentage of children with special educational needs (SEN) entering primary and secondary education in forthcoming years. Previous estimates of the total
numbers with SEN are now out of date and will be updated later this year. These should be available in the autumn.
(1) Source: School Census. Published in table 1a of the Statistical First Release “Special Educational Needs in England, January 2007”.
(2 )Source: School Census. Published in table 1b of the Statistical First Release “Special Educational Needs in England, January 2007”.
Specialised Diplomas
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 5 February 2008, Official Report, column 1101W, on specialised diplomas, what estimate he has made of the cost of training teachers in preparation for the first teaching of diplomas in September 2008. [197054]
Jim Knight: In the financial year 2007-08, the Department has spent £2.63 million to provide face-to-face training for teachers in preparation for the first teaching of diplomas in September 2008.
Specialised Diplomas: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils are entitled to free school meals in each maintained school that will not be offering the full range of diplomas from (a) September 2008 and (b) September 2009; and if he will make a statement. [196880]
Jim Knight: The vast majority of schools and colleges in England will offer some Diplomas from September 2009 with the support of local universities and employers. We therefore expect the number of maintained schools offering the full range of Diplomas to increase in line with the planned and phased roll out of Diplomas to 2011. All schools will be expected to play a full part in local consortia arrangements to offer all Diploma lines because the 14-19 Entitlement means that from 2013 every young person has the choice to pursue one of 17 Diplomas at an appropriate level for them, wherever they are in the country.
No schools within the Diploma consortia arrangements will be offering the full range of Diplomas in 2008 or 2009 as the full range of Diplomas will not be available until 2011 when the final three Diplomas will be available for first teaching, bringing the total Diploma Lines of Learning to 17.
Teachers: Documents
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many documents were sent from his Department to head teachers of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools either in hard copy or via e-mail since 18 December 2007. [196572]
Jim Knight: It is departmental policy not to send documents to schools either in hard copy or via e-mail. In communications to schools via e-mail we provide links to documents that can be downloaded.
We send a regular fortnightly e-mail to schools. There have been seven sent since 18 December 2007. On occasion it is necessary to send a bespoke e-mail 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.
Teachers: Labour Turnover
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many qualified teachers left full-time teaching in London in each of the last five years. [196413]
Jim Knight: The following table provides the number of qualified regular local authority maintained sector teachers who left full-time service in London Government office region in each year from 2000-01 to 2004-05, the latest year available at regional level. The numbers include teachers leaving service, retiring, entering part-time service or entering teaching service of any description outside of London.
| Teachers leaving full-time regular local authority maintained sector( 1) service in the London Government office region | |||||
| 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05( 2) | |
| (1) Left full-time service in London but they may in service elsewhere or in other education sectors, (2) Provisional. Figures are available for 2005-06 at the national level but not for individual regions. (3) Excludes academies and CTCs. Source: Database of Teacher Records. | |||||
Teachers: Primary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of primary school teachers joining the profession had a (a) C, (b) B, (c) A and (d) A* in (i) GCSE mathematics and (ii) GCSE English in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. [197252]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally.
All initial teacher training trainees are required to have at least a GGSE grade C in mathematics and English or their equivalent.
Teaching Methods
Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the Answer of 10 March 2008, Official Report, column 196W, on teaching methods, (1) how many secondary schools will have funding to support small group academic focused study support in 2009-10; [196561]
(2) what proportion of the money allocated to support the development of extended schools will be used to support small group academic focused study support. [196562]
Jim Knight:
The provision of a varied menu of activities for children and young people, including study support, is part of the extended schools core offer, with the Government committed to every school delivering
extended schools core offer by 2010. The Department has made a significant investment in extended schools, and will make available more than £1.3 billion over the next three years to support the establishment of inclusive and sustainable extended schools. Schools are free to use this funding to respond to the needs of children and their community which can include providing study support activity. As part of this funding, £84 million in 2009-10 and £83 million in 2010-11 is to support small group academic focused study support. The funding will be targeted at the most deprived secondary schools, and is expected to support small group academic focused study support in around a quarter of the over 3,000 secondary schools.
Truancy: Penalties
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many fixed penalty notices have been issued in relation to condoned absenteeism of pupils; and if he will make a statement. [196573]
Jim Knight: The Department began collecting data in September 2004 on the number of penalty notices issued by local authorities to parents in respect of the offence of failing to ensure their children’s regular school attendance. Between 1 September 2004 to 31 December 2007, the data show that 35,229 parents were issued with penalty notices.
Unemployment
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) males aged between 16 and 64 years and (b) females aged between 16 and 59 years were not in education, employment or training in (i) 1997, (ii) 2001, (iii) 2005 and (iv) 2007. [174637]
Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.
The UK has a dynamic and flexible labour market with one of the highest employment rates of the G7 nations. Under this Government youth unemployment has fallen and we now have more 18 to 24-year-olds in employment and full time education compared to 1997.
Government are not complacent and have set out how we will deliver an integrated employment and skills service that will include early skills screening of 18 to 24-year-olds, piloting of mandatory skills health cheeks and basic skills and job focused provision and new funding for a new adult advancement and careers service.
The following table shows estimates from the Labour Force Survey for England for the second quarter of each year of the numbers and percentage not in education, employment or training (NEET).
| Not in education, employment or training (NEET) by gender (England) | ||||||
| Males aged 16( 1) to 64 | Females aged 16( 1) to 64 | |||||
| Q2 of each year | NEET | Total | Percentage | NEET | Total | Percentage |
| (1) Lower age bound is based on academic age 16—that is those aged at least 16 on the previous 31 August and who will therefore have completed compulsory full-time education. Source: Labour Force Survey Q2 (April to June) of each year | ||||||
Vocational Education
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many 14 to 16 year olds spent time in a further education college studying for a vocational qualification in the last 12 months. [195655]
Jim Knight: We estimate that around 95,000 students aged 14 to undertook practical and applied learning in further education colleges in 2006/07, but detailed information by type of qualification is not available.
Information on students in further education colleges is collected by the LSC through the Individualised Learner Record (ILR). For 14 to 16-year-olds this information is not compulsory, so information from this will be incomplete. The ILR is a data return that is used primarily for funding purposes, but as 14 to 16-year-old provision is not directly funded by the LSC there has been no requirement for institutions to include details of 14 to 16-year-olds in ILR returns.
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