| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
1 May 2008 : Column 686W—continued
Training: Finance
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether responsibility for funding the 14 to 19 foundation learning tier will be transferred to local authorities in 2010-11. [202434]
Bill Rammell: The responsibilities for planning, commissioning and funding of 16-18 provision will transfer to local authorities from 2010-11. The proposals for how the new system will operate are set on in the White Paper ‘Raising Expectations; enabling the system to deliver’ which is currently out for consultation until the 9 June. These proposals will play a critical role in helping to deliver our ambition to increase the participation age to 18 by 2015 and delivering the full range of entitlements to Diplomas, Apprenticeships and the Foundation Learning Tier. Local authorities are in the best place to lead the implementation of the new participation age locally. They are already responsible for schools and are taking responsibility for advising young people.
We are now proposing to give them new responsibilities to ensure that there is the right range of provision in place for young people to continue in education or training until age 19. In doing so, we are making sure that they have the ability to deliver in full the new curriculum and qualifications entitlement for young people, and to raise standards.
United Kingdom Accreditation Service: Grayling Political Strategy
Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what payments (a) the United Kingdom Accreditation Service and (b) UFi made to Grayling Political Strategy in each of the last five years; and on what date and for what purpose the payment was made in each case. [202264]
Mr. Lammy:
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service is a private company and I do not have detailed information about their payments to Grayling Political Strategy. However, I understand they pay them approximately £12,000 per annum for general political monitoring services. The payments made by UFI at this level of detail are not collected by my Department.
This is an operational matter for UFI since they determine any payments to local providers, partners and other organisations that are necessary to support the delivery of the UFI’s key priorities and targets. Sarah Jones, UFI’s chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with further information. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House Library.
Children, Schools and Families
Children: Day Care
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of childcare staff in England had childcare qualifications which were obtained overseas in each of the last five years. [202876]
Beverley Hughes: The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information on staff qualifications that are relevant to working with children and young people. The percentage of paid staff in England holding an overseas qualification for each year available is shown in the following table.
| Table 1: proportion of all paid staff holding an overseas qualification | ||
| Percentage | ||
| 2005 | 2006 | |
| Notes: 1. Children’s centres were included in the survey for the first time in 2006; therefore data is not available for previous years. 2. After school and holiday clubs were sampled differently in 2005 and comparable figures for this year are not available. 3. Early years settings in maintained schools were not included in the 2005 survey. | ||
Children: Obesity
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of children aged between (a) two and 15 and (b) 10 and 15 were estimated to be obese in each year from 1990 to 2008; and if he will make a statement. [200994]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
The information is not available in the exact format requested.
Data on the prevalence of obesity among children aged two to 10, 11 to 15, and two to 15 between 1995 and 2006 can be found in the “Health Survey for England 2006 latest trends”, published 31 January 2008. The data are presented in table 4 (obesity) of the “Children trend tables 2006”. Copies of this publication are available in the Library.
Information on the proportion of children who are obese in the age range 10 to 15, and for the years 1990 to 1994 and 2007 to 2008 are not available.
Food: Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers are qualified to teach food technology. [203148]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not currently available.
Gifted and Talented Programme
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools are not taking part in the gifted and talented programme. [203147]
Jim Knight: Provisional data from the January 2008 school census shows that the percentage of schools identifying gifted and talented learners has increased by 3 per cent. in the secondary sector and 11 per cent. in the primary sector to 94 per cent. and 76 per cent. respectively. This shows continued strong progress towards the target for having all schools identifying gifted and talented learners by 2010.
Head teachers
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average age of (a) primary school and (b) secondary school head teachers was in each year since 1997. [203224]
Jim Knight: The following table provides the average age of full-time head teachers employed in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools in England, March 1997 to 2006.
| The average age of full-time head teachers employed in local authority maintained nursery/primary and secondary schools in England, March 1997 to 2006. | ||
| Nursery/Primary | Secondary | |
| Source: Database of Teacher Records | ||
Music: Wider Opportunities Programme
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps his Department has taken to build on the Wider Opportunities programme; [203009]
(2) how many pilot schemes were set up as part of the Wider Opportunities programme; how long the pilots lasted; and how many pilots are in operation; [203019]
(3) what funding his Department provided for the Wider Opportunities music programme in each year since 2003; [203013]
(4) what the status of the Wider Opportunities music programme is; and what plans there are for extending it beyond its pilot areas. [203018]
Jim Knight: There were 13 Wider Opportunities pilot authorities: Barking and Dagenham, Croydon, Devon, Haringey, Hertfordshire, Kirklees, Manchester, Newham, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth and Staffordshire. All of the pilot authorities have learnt from their experience and are continuing to address the objectives of giving as many pupils as possible access to free instrumental tuition during key stage 2 care, which Ofsted(1) recommended should last for at least one year.
In 2003-04 each local authority received an additional £10,000 in its Standards Fund allocation for music specifically to support activities linked to wider opportunities at key stage 2. These additional payments of £10,000 were also made in 2005-06 and 2006-07. In 2006-07 a further £3 million was allocated nationally to support wider opportunities work, with £23 million allocated for this purpose in 2007-08. These allocations were shared on a formula based on the number of key stage 2 pupils with a weighting for social disadvantage. For 2008 to 2011 the Standards Fund Music Grant still includes a formula based sum (£23 million a year) to enhance access to instrumental and vocal opportunities at key stage 2.
Since 2006 “Wider Opportunities” has come to be used to describe not a single model but rather a number of models which deliver instrumental and vocal tuition across whole class and year groups. Guidance for schools on instrumental and vocal tuition at key stage 2 was produced in March 2006 and updated(2) in September 2007.
We continue to support the objectives of widening musical opportunities for children and young people, and announced a record £332 million investment for music in schools on 21 November 2007. Our aspiration,
as set out in the Standards Fund guidance sent to directors of Children Services in December 2007, is that by 2011 programmes will be in place that will result in every child having the opportunity to learn a musical instrument for free, normally in a large group or whole class setting, for at least one year.
(1) “Tuning in: wider opportunities in specialist instrumental tuition for pupils in key stage 2” March 2004.
(2 )Available on teachernet: http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&;PageMode=publications&Productld=DFES-0184-2006&
Pre-School Education: Finance
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2008, Official Report, column 315W, what the findings were from the June 2007 School Funding Reforms analyses into the cost of delivering the free entitlement in private voluntary and independent nurseries; what the findings of these analyses were; and if he will place in the Library the analyses. [202909]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not collected centrally. As part of the package of reforms to early years funding which we announced in June last year we asked local authorities to undertake an analysis of the cost of delivering the free early education in the private, voluntary and independent sector specifically to inform local budget setting for 2008 to 2011. Local authorities will use their local analyses to inform the development of a single funding formula for delivery of the free entitlement in their authority by 2010.
Primary Education
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many primary schools there were in each local authority area in England in each year since 1996-97. [202965]
Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the following tables.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |