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21 Apr 2008 : Column 1568W—continued
Schools: Heating
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will provide guidance for local education authorities on incorporating biomass-based heating and cooling in new build schools. [199701]
Jim Knight: Guidance on incorporating biomass-heating and other renewable and low-carbon technologies in new schools is provided on our website. Biomass heating has been installed in many schools, but biomass cooling has not been used. Schools have little demand for cooling, and where there is a need for cooling this can be achieved effectively using other low- carbon energy sources. The potential to use biomass for cooling in schools is likely to be limited to large scale community energy schemes serving mixed-use developments that include school buildings.
Schools: Sales
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) former school sites and (b) parcels of land belonging to a (i) school and (ii) former school have been sold since 1997. [198653]
Jim Knight: We do not hold this information. Although local authorities and maintained schools in England need consent before they can dispose of a school playing field or any part of a school playing field, they do not require approval to sell buildings, or the marginal non-playing field land surrounding those buildings. Such decisions are made locally.
Bob Spink:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many school sites
were sold (a) wholly and (b) partly in each year since 1992; and if he will make a statement. [199414]
Jim Knight: We do not hold this information. Although local authorities and maintained schools in England need consent before they can dispose of a school playing field or any part of a school playing field, they do not require approval to sell buildings, or the marginal non-playing field land surrounding those buildings. Such decisions are made locally.
The Under-Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, West (Kevin Brennan) gave a written statement to the House on 2 April 2008 explaining the measures that the Government have introduced to protect school playing field land.
Schools: Sports
Mr. Andy Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding school sport received from (a) the national lottery and (b) the public purse in each year since 1997; and how much it is projected to receive in each year of the comprehensive spending review period to 2010-11. [194860]
Kevin Brennan: A breakdown of my Department’s and Big Lottery investment in England in PE and School Sport from 1996-07 to 2010-11 is set out in the following table.
| £ million | ||
| Financial year | Lottery | DCSF funding |
| (1) To date | ||
Lottery distributing bodies decide the nature and duration of lottery grant-making programmes, and make grants, independently of the Government and subject to their own criteria. No figures are therefore available for projected lottery funding.
Schools: Standards
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) which schools have been in Ofsted categories in each year since 1997; and for how long they were in such categories; [196624]
(2) which schools have been in Ofsted categories for more than one year in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority. [196625]
Jim Knight: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector Christine Gilbert has written to the hon. Member, and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 1 April 2008:
Your recent parliamentary questions have been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
Since 1 September 2005, there have been two categories of schools causing concern. These are:
‘Schools subject to special measures’—those that, when inspected, were failing to give their pupils an acceptable standard of education and did not show the capacity to improve.
‘Schools requiring significant improvement’—those that, when inspected, were performing significantly less well than they might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform. These schools are issued a ‘Notice to Improve’ and judged inadequate but, unlike special measures schools, demonstrate the capacity to improve.
Prior to the launch of the new school inspection framework in September 2005, the categories included ‘serious weaknesses’, ‘underachieving schools’ and ‘inadequate sixth form’. These categories no longer exist.
The names of all schools that have been in categories of concern since 2003, broken down by local authority, are published each term on the Ofsted website at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk. They can be found in the ‘Publications and Research’ section, under ‘Statistics’. The direct link is:
Beyond this, the data is not available in the form in which you requested it, and the information from 1997 to 2003 has not been published. This information, presented in the requested manner, is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost, that is something in the order of 50 hours work.
I am sorry not to be more helpful. If you could re-focus your request so that we could, as a consequence, reduce the work entailed in responding, we would do all possible to accommodate you.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Children, Schools and Families and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.
Schools: Swimming
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of schools in each local authority area in Yorkshire and the Humber offered swimming lessons to pupils in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [197436]
Kevin Brennan: Swimming activities and water safety are a compulsory element of the national curriculum for physical education in primary schools. Swimming lessons should be provided for all pupils as part of this. Schools can choose swimming activities and water safety as a programme of study in secondary schools.
As part of the PE and Sport Strategy, £5.5 million has been invested over 2006-08 to help pupils to reach the Key Stage 2 requirements for swimming, including being able to swim at least 25 metres. Over 100,000
pupils will have benefited from this programme by July 2008, and £8.25 million has been allocated to continue to support it over 2008-11.
The annual PE and School Sport Survey was introduced in 2003-04 and provides information on the
proportion of schools in School Sport Partnerships offering swimming. Of the schools that provided data, the percentage that offered swimming during the academic year, broken down by local authority, is as follows.
| 2005/06 | 2006/07 | |||
| Number of schools providing data | Percentage of which offer swimming | Number of schools providing data | Percentage of which offer swimming | |
Direct comparisons between local authority areas are not appropriate as the number of schools in a School Sport Partnership, and the length of time they have been within a partnership, differ.
From September 2006, all maintained schools in England have been part of a School Sport Partnership.
Further analysis in years prior to 2005-06 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools in (a) Essex and (b) the Castle Point constituency offer swimming lessons. [197646]
Kevin Brennan: The annual PE and School Sport Survey collects data relating to participation in PE and school sport from schools. The 2006-07 survey found that 463 of the 567 schools in Essex stated that they offered swimming during the academic year. In the Castle Point constituency, 26 of the 34 schools stated they offered swimming lessons.
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