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29 Apr 2008 : Column 412W—continued
Schools: Admissions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which non-grammar schools have special dispensation to operate a partial system of selection by ability based on grandfathered rights; and if he will make a statement. [201090]
Jim Knight: Legislation prevents admission authorities from introducing new selection by high academic ability. Schools that selected a proportion of their pupils in this way at the beginning of the 1997-98 school year may continue to do so but they must publish a notice each year to inform parents who may wish to exercise their right to object to the Adjudicator.
We do not formally collect information about which schools select a proportion of their pupils in this way. However the Department is aware of 40 such schools and they are shown in the following table.
| LEA | School | |
Schools: Construction
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools have been commissioned outside the Building Schools for the Future programme in each of the last three years; and how many of them were commissioned under the private finance initiative model. [202534]
Jim Knight: The Department does not commission school buildings itself except for academies; such decisions are usually taken by the local authority or school owner.
However, for new academies, traditionally procured by the Department, the following numbers of Funding Agreements were issued in each of the last three years: 15 in 2005-06, 21 in 2006-07, and 17 in 2007-08. A further 14 Funding Agreements were issued for academies to be delivered through the National Framework.
Since 2005-06, the Department's private finance initiative resources have been allocated to Building Schools for the Future.
Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many new schools went over their construction budget in each of the last five years. [202548]
Jim Knight: The Department does not usually commission schools itself, except for academies; such information would, therefore, be held locally.
In the case of the academies programme, 16 of the 42 completed projects have exceeded their agreed construction budget. In a further six projects, final accounts have not yet been received.
To date, 13 schools have been built as part of Building Schools for the Future and none of these received additional funding from central Government over and above the budgetary allocation agreed with the local authority for its group of schools.
Schools: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what public spending on schools in England (a) was in (i) 2006-07 and (ii) 2007-08 and (b) is planned to be in (A) 2008-09, (B) 2009-10 and (C) 2010-11, in real terms using 2006-07 prices; and if he will make a statement. [201099]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not yet available. The Department is currently updating this information for its 2008 departmental annual report due to be published in May. I shall write to the hon. Member as soon as the information is available and place a copy of my response in the House Library.
Secondary Education: Assessments
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many eligible pupils did not obtain level 4 in a combination of reading, writing and mathematics tests at Key Stage 2 in 2007, broken down by local authority area. [201682]
Jim Knight: The information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Specialised Diplomas: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his latest estimate is of the cost to his Department of delivering the new diplomas in each year from 2008-09 to 2015-16; and if he will make a statement. [200989]
Jim Knight: We have invested £45 million in 2007-08 to training the workforce and supporting consortia across the country to deliver diplomas.
In addition, in 2008-09 schools will receive approximately £1,000 per student doing diplomas in KS4, to reflect the additional costs of delivering these courses.
Schools and colleges delivering diplomas post-16 will receive funding for their diploma students at rates set
by the LSC funding methodology for 2008/09. The funding rates for diplomas paid to schools and colleges will vary by line and level of learning, the additional learning options chosen by the student, factors particular to the school or college in which it is delivered including disadvantage, area costs and success rates, and funding for additional support learners may need.
An illustrative example of funding that a school sixth form would receive over two years for a student on a diploma, A level and Edexcel national diploma vocational programme respectively, and excluding institutional and individual learner factors, is shown as follows:
| Funding (£) | |
The full details of LSC funding rates are published at
Teachers: Qualifications
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers had the equivalent of at least three A levels at grade B or better upon entering the profession in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [201130]
Jim Knight: Data from the TDA’s Performance Profiles database show that a minimum of 26 per cent. of all undergraduate mainstream primary Initial Teacher Training (ITT) trainees who gained Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in 2005/06 and entered a teaching post in a maintained schools within six months of gaining QTS had the equivalent of at least three A-levels at grade B or better upon entering their ITT course. The corresponding figure for secondary is 14 per cent.
It is optional for HEIs to complete the tariff score for undergraduate trainees on the Performance Profiles database and approximately 30 per cent. of primary trainees and 42 per cent. of secondary trainees had unknown tariffs.
Undergraduate trainees represent a small proportion of trainees entering teaching posts, only 37 per cent. for primary and 5 per cent. for secondary, the remainder were postgraduate trainees, whose A-level scores are not collected.
The A-level scores for Employment Based ITT trainees are also not collected centrally.
Teachers: Standards
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what mechanisms are in place for the removal of teachers deemed to be incompetent in the classroom; and what role the General Teaching Council has in such procedures. [202545]
Jim Knight: We have introduced a revised performance management regime to support the on-going professional development of teachers. Classroom observations are a part of this process, and where significant weaknesses have been identified which performance management has been unable to address, teachers become subject to a school's capability procedures. The point at which this happens is determined locally.
The School Staffing (England) Regulations 2003 require governing bodies to establish procedures for the regulation of the conduct and discipline of staff and for dealing with lack of capability on the part of staff and set out the processes governing bodies, in their role as employers, should follow in relation to the dismissal of staff.
Where an employer dismisses a teacher on grounds of competency, they are required to notify the GTCE so the GTCE can consider—following investigation by them—action to remove the teacher from their register—which would effectively bar them from teaching in maintained schools. They should also notify the GTCE of instances where a teacher has resigned in circumstances where they would have been dismissed for that reason or consideration would have been given to their dismissal had they remained in post.
Teachers: Television
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what payments the Teachers' TV Board of Governors has made to (a) Hanover Communications and (b) Open Road in each of the last five years; and on what dates and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [202300]
Kevin Brennan: The Teachers TV Board is in the process of making one payment of £934.13 (inclusive of VAT) to Hanover Communications for handling media around the publication of the board's 2007 annual report. No other payments have been made to Hanover Communications in the last five years. The Teachers TV Board has not made any payments to Open Road Communications.
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