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9 May 2008 : Column 1194W—continued
Children: Day Care
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) childminders, (b) all daycare providers, (c) private, voluntary and independent daycare providers and (d) children's centres there are in each local authority classified by index of multiple deprivation decile. [204128]
Beverley Hughes: Information is not collected on the number of providers by index of multiple deprivation decile.
Since 2003 Ofsted has been responsible for the registration and inspection of childcare providers. A table showing the number of providers and places registered with Ofsted at 31 March 2007 by each local authority has been placed in the Library.
Children's Centres
Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many Sure Start children’s centres there will be in 2010; [203712]
(2) how many Sure Start children’s centres have been closed in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since their inception; [203713]
(3) how much capital funding for Sure Start children's centres in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England his Department has provided in each year since the Sure Start programme commenced; [203780]
(4) how many outreach workers his Department has employed in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each of the last five years; [203782]
(5) how many Sure Start children's centres have been established in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since the Sure Start programme commenced. [203791]
Beverley Hughes: There are currently 2,906 designated Sure Start Children’s Centres in England. By 2010 there will be 3,500 children’s centres, one for every community. No centres have been closed since their inception. Prior to 2004 there were 524 Sure Start Local Programmes, the vast majority of which have now made the transition into children’s centres.
The further information requested is given in the tables below. Local authorities are responsible for the establishment and operation of children’s centres. The Department does not collect information on the number of outreach workers employed by children’s centres.
| Designated Children’s Centres | ||||||
| 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 31 March 2008 | |
| Notes: 1. Figures are cumulative. 2. Figures are available for England only. 3. Former SSLPs that have become children’s centres are included in these figures. | ||||||
| All Sure Start Local Programme and Children’s Centre Capital Expenditure Estimates | ||||||||
| £ million | ||||||||
| 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| Notes: 1. Data is not available by constituency so we are unable to provide figures for (a) Jarrow. 2. Data is available for England only. 3. The South Tyneside data is actual expenditure but that for the North East and England contains estimates because we do not yet have final data for the entire population. 4. For 2006-07, the expenditure data includes integrated projects (i.e. those which target more than one policy area). | ||||||||
Children's Centres: Manpower
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children's centre outreach workers he proposes to provide by 2010; [204176]
(2) how many outreach workers he proposes to provide in each children's centre in the super output areas ranked in the (a) first to third, (b) fourth to seventh and (c) eighth to tenth deciles of deprivation by 2010. [204178]
Beverley Hughes: We expect all Sure Start Children's Centres to provide outreach services, although the level and intensity of such provision will vary according to the needs of the local community. Outreach is part of the role of a wide range of practitioners. While many practitioners engaged in outreach to families with young children will be employed in a children's centre or by a local authority, we encourage local authorities to build on other existing local capacity, such as health visitors, relevant third sector workers, and trained volunteers. Our priority is to help children's centres in the most disadvantaged areas to build their outreach capacity to meet local needs. In this context, children's centre revenue funding provides local authorities with resources for two additional outreach practitioners per children's centre in the most deprived (super output) areas.
We will be reviewing the delivery of outreach in a range of settings with a view to establishing core principles and standards for effective and comprehensive outreach services. We will support this with appropriate training materials and courses and will provide additional funding for practitioners in children's centres to take up new training opportunities.
Class Sizes
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps the Government have taken to improve pupil to teacher ratios since 1997. [203732]
Jim Knight: The Government have been able to improve the PTR by increasing the supply of teachers. There are now 441,200 teachers in our schools, almost 41,000 more than in 1997. In this period the overall PTR has fallen from 18.6 to 16.9.
The PTR is also influenced by the rise and fall in pupil numbers over time. The Government regularly models the number of teacher training places required in future years by taking account of this and a range of other factors.
Departmental Pensions
Danny Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what his most recent estimate is of the unfunded liability in present value terms of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible; and on what assumptions for (a) discount and (b) longevity the estimate is based; [200726]
(2) what the unfunded liability in present value terms was of each public sector pension scheme for which his Department is responsible in each year since 1990-91. [200727]
Jim Knight: The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) is an unfunded defined benefit scheme. Liabilities are estimated each year by the Government Actuary’s Department and a statement is included in scheme resource accounts.
Financial Services: Education
Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to introduce personal finance education as part of the future schools curriculum at (a) primary and (b) secondary level; and if he will make a statement. [204218]
Jim Knight: It is crucial that all young people leave school with the skills and confidence to manage their money well. Personal finance education is already part of Personal, Social and Health Education at Key Stages 1 to 4. However, the revised curriculum for secondary schools includes a new dedicated programme of study for ‘Economic Well Being and Financial Capability’ as part of a revised Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education. The new curriculum will begin teaching from September 2008 and will add a new focus on financial education in secondary schools. Sir Jim Rose is currently carrying out an independent review of the primary curriculum. He is due to report to Ministers in March 2009.
Additionally, citizenship education, which is statutory at Key Stages 3 and 4, requires that 14 to 16-year-olds be taught how the economy functions, including the role of business and financial services. We are also introducing functional mathematics to the maths GCSE, which means that from 2010 all pupils who achieve a grade C or above will have mastered the basics.
To support schools in meeting these curriculum requirements, we are investing £11.5 million over the next three years to support good financial education in schools. This investment will support revised curriculum guidance for financial capability, innovative curriculum resources with the Child Trust Fund as a focus, and more high-quality training and support for teachers.
Food: Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people are training to teach food technology. [203149]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the total number of trainees on food technology initial teacher training (ITT) courses for the academic year 2007-08.
Approximately 800 secondary school food technology teacher training places will be made available over the three-year period 2008-09 to 2010-11.
Languages: GCE A-Level
Mr. MacShane: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils obtained an A-level in (a) German, (b) French and (c) Spanish in each year since 2000. [203774]
Jim Knight: The information is as follows.
| Number of pupils obtaining a GCE A level | Percentage of pupils entered into exam obtaining a GCE A level | |
| Note: Figures relate to 16 to 18-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August) in all schools and colleges. | ||
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