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5 Jun 2008 : Column 1156W—continued
Children: Day Care
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many children attended hospital following an accident within (a) nurseries and (b) a childminder's home in (i) Basingstoke constituency, (ii) Hampshire and (iii) England in each year since 1997; [200560]
(2) how many data records have been lost and stolen from nursery premises in the latest period for which figures are available; [200561]
(3) what the average class size in (a) maintained and (b) private, voluntary and independent nurseries was in (i) Basingstoke constituency, (ii) Hampshire and (iii) England at the latest date for which figures are available; [200562]
(4) what his most recent estimate is of the average time children in childcare settings spent engaged in outdoor physical activity in each of the last five years. [200565]
Beverley Hughes: The information requested is not collected centrally.
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much and what proportion of the Transformation Fund has been spent; and if he will make a statement. [206907]
Jim Knight: The Graduate Leader Fund (£305 million over the CSR period 2008-11) superseded the Transformation Fund on 1 April 2008. Information on the first year of spend (i.e. 2008-09) will be provided to the Department by local authorities through their audited financial statements in the autumn of 2010.
Communication: GCE A-level
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many maintained schools will offer an A level course in communications and culture in the next academic year. [208540]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not collected centrally. The latest publication containing information on achievement in A-level qualifications is SFR 02/2008 “GCE/VCE A/AS and Equivalent Examination Results in England, 2006/07 (Revised)” and can be found at:
Departmental Manpower
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of his Department's employees are (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208387]
Kevin Brennan: In my Department, the breakdown of staff are as follows:
(a) 1,132 male (41.9 per cent. of all staff).
(b) 1,572 female (58.1 per cent. of all staff).
(c) 306 staff declared as from an ethnic minority (11.3 per cent. of all staff), 310 not known (11.5 per cent.), 113 prefer not to say (4.2 per cent.)
(d) 189 declared a disability (7.0 per cent.), 310 not known (11.5 per cent.), 120 prefer not to say (4.4 per cent.).
(e) 63 declared not heterosexual (2.3 per cent.), 312 sexual orientation not known (11.6 per cent.), 244 prefer not to say (9.0 per cent.).
These figures are based on self-declaration.
Departmental Pay
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of employees in his Department who received a performance-related bonus at their last appraisal were (a) male, (b) female, (c) from an ethnic minority, (d) disabled and (e) not heterosexual; and if he will make a statement. [208385]
Kevin Brennan: My Department was created on 28 June 2007. Information on bonuses for 2008 for all staff will be available when pay negotiations are settled later in the year.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the education maintenance allowance in each year from 2006-07 to 2012-13; and if he will make a statement. [208334]
Jim Knight: Expenditure on the education maintenance allowance was £502.9 million in 2006-07 and £533 million in 2007-08.
The budget allocations for the education maintenance allowance for the CSR period are 2008-09 £549 million; 2009-10 £529 million; 2010-11 £529 million.
Latest expenditure estimates are 2008-09 £531 million; 2009-10 £544 million; 2010-11 £560 million. DCSF officials are working with the Learning and Skills Council to establish whether these latest estimates are a robust and accurate basis for funding.
Forecasts of expenditure beyond this period are not available.
Education: Assessments
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what margin of error was permitted by markers passing the standardisation test to mark (a) Key Stage 2 and (b) Key Stage 3 national tests in (i) science, (ii) mathematics and (iii) English in each year since 2005; and if he will make a statement; [207868]
(2) what requirement there is to provide feedback to markers from their standardisation tests before marking papers; and if he will make a statement. [207869]
Jim Knight: The National Assessment Agency (NAA) is responsible for the standardisation of markers for National Curriculum tests. I have therefore asked David Gee, Managing Director, NAA, to write to the hon. Member in response to his questions. A copy of his letter has been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 29 May 2008:
Further to your two parliamentary questions to the Secretary of State the National Assessment Agency (NAA) has been asked to place this letter in the House of Commons library as a formal response.
Marker Standardisation & Mentoring
The process for the standardisation of markers for National Curriculum Tests has changed in 2008 and therefore there are differences in the way the margin of errors are recorded for the period from 2005 - 2007 and 2008. These are defined in the table enclosed.
From 2005 - 2007 standardisation and the first sample, submitted at the same time, were the main method for detecting markers who were unable to consistently apply the mark scheme. The second sample, two-thirds of the way through the process, was a final check, but it was rare for a marker to be stopped at this stage. This manual process involved supervising markers checking the marking of those in their team and was very dependent on the individual consistency of the team leaders.
From 2008, the introduction of the online standardisation and benchmarking processes means that monitoring of markers has become an ongoing process and poor marking can be identified and corrected at several stages throughout the marking activity. The procedures have been designed to detect those markers that are unable to consistently apply the mark scheme and stop them. It also allows team leaders to identify where markers may require mentoring support to improve their marking to ensure that all markers consistently apply the mark scheme.
The online system for standardisation and benchmarking allows ETS, the test delivery agency, to monitor all markers against an agreed national standard set of scripts at all points in the process; monitoring both marking quality, through benchmarking, and marking progress on a daily basis. This will highlight were additional support may be necessary.
Team leaders should provide feedback on the standardisation papers completed to all markers in their team. Any markers who failed their first attempt at standardisation will receive mentoring
before a second attempt is made. For those markers who have passed standardisation, feedback should take place either before marking starts or very early in the process. Higher priority is given to those markers who have only just managed to pass standardisation. If after mentoring, a marker fails the second attempt at standardisation or benchmarking, the marker is stopped and removed from marking.
If you are interested further I would be delighted to meet with you once this years tests are completed to give you a full briefing on the work of the NAA in all areas of assessment and school support.
Please contact my office if you would like to arrange this.
| Standardisation and Sampling Metrics 2005 to 2007( 1) | ||||
| 2005 to 2007( 1) | ||||
| Absolute mark difference allowed | ||||
| Key stage | Subject | Number of scripts in sample | Discretional second sample | Compulsory second sample |
| (1 )Data derived from 2007 NCT Policy Document. | ||||
| Standardisation and benchmarking metrics 2008 | |||||||||
| 2008 Standardisation | 2008 Benchmarking (current 27 May) and may be subject to further tightening. Benchmarking is conducted typically every 90 scripts | ||||||||
| Key Stage | Subject | Number of scripts in sample | Percentage exact agreement | Percentage adjacent | Percentage discrepant | Number of scripts in sample | Percentage exact agreement | Percentage adjacent | Percentage discrepant |
Mr. Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what representations he has received on the (a) time taken to mark and (b) level of error in the marking of the 2008 standard assessment tests. [208814]
Jim Knight: None. However, as is usual during the test delivery period, both my Department and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have received representations about a range of matters relating to national curriculum tests, including marking. The QCA has stated that all schools will receive their results for the tests in key stages 2 and 3 by 8 July 2008.
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