| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
6 Oct 2008 : Column 508W—continued
Specialist Schools and Academies Trust: Income
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the income of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (a) was in each year from 1999 to 2000 to 2007-08 and (b) is planned to be for each year from 2008-09 to 2010-11, broken down by (i) central Government grants, (ii) subscriptions from schools, (iii) private sector donations and (iv) other income; and if he will make a statement. [223887]
Jim Knight: The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT) is an independent registered charity which receives income from a range of sources. As such, DCSF does not have responsibility for monitoring its income. Audited accounts are published and available from the Charity Commission.
The DCSF funds SSAT through a range of grants and contracts to support the Specialist Schools and Academies Programmes and a range of other activities designed to raise pupil achievement. The total financial contribution made by DCSF to SSAT over the last seven years for which we have final information is: £2.395 million in 2001-02; £4.371 million in 2002-03; £11.326 million in 2003-04; £17.796 million in 2004-05; £24.350 million in 2005-06; £35.152 million in 2006-07 and £43.578 million in 2007-08. This includes both grants and contracts. DCSF negotiates funding levels each year for individual grants and contracts. We are not in a position to estimate what the level of funding will be in future years—this will depend on our priorities at the time.
Stress
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what arrangements his Department has in place to assist officials to overcome the effects of stress experienced in the workplace. [222179]
Beverley Hughes: The Department is committed to the well-being of its employees. It has a number of procedures in place to reduce stress at work, and recently updated its Workforce Well-Being policies and practices for tackling sickness absence, including stress experienced in the workplace. In addition, we will be publishing a new stress prevention and management policy in the autumn. This will be based on the Health and Safety Executive's management standards, and will advise staff on best practice to further improve their capacity to manage stress.
Supply Teachers: Training
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what financial assistance is available for supply teachers without qualified teacher status (QTS) earning the equivalent of a classroom teacher on the M6 pay scale who wish to obtain QTS; and if he will make a statement; [223779]
(2) what programmes there are to encourage current non-qualified teachers who are acting as supply teachers to seek careers as full-time qualified teachers; and if he will make a statement. [223783]
Jim Knight: Unqualified teachers, including those acting as supply teachers, can gain QTS by completing one of the employment-based programmes. These include the Graduate Teacher Programme, the Registered Teacher Programme (for those without a degree or equivalent qualification) or, for overseas trained teachers, the Overseas Trained Teacher Programme all of which can be tailored to take account of prior experience. Alternatively they could complete an undergraduate teacher training course or postgraduate certificate in education. There are different financial support arrangements for each programme. Further information on the training options and financial assistance available can be obtained from the Teaching Information Line on 0845 6000 991 or by reference to the Training and Development Agency for Schools teacher recruitment website at:
Sure Start Programme
Mr. Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department plans to produce regular reports on the outcomes and effectiveness of early years intervention work following the establishment of Sure Start Children's centres in every community beyond 2010. [222635]
Beverley Hughes: The National Evaluation of Sure Start (NESS), undertaken by the University of Birkbeck, began in 2001 and focuses on the impact made by Sure Start Local Programmes, the precursor to Sure Start Children's Centres. Reports evaluating the impact of Sure Start on children and their families at nine months and three years of age are available at
The report from the current phase of the evaluation, assessing the impact when the children are five years old, is currently under way and we expect to publish the results in spring 2010. No decisions have been taken on whether this research should continue in the future.
The Department is considering arrangements for the evaluation of Sure Start Children's Centres currently.
Sure Start Programme: Finance
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the objectives are of the Sure Start sufficiency and access grant and the projects it has funded; and how much his Department has allocated to the grant in (a) each year since its introduction and (b) each of the next three years. [223749]
Beverley Hughes: The childcare sufficiency and access element of the Sure Start, Early Years and Childcare Grant was introduced in financial year 2008-09 and so allocation figures are not available for earlier periods. Local authorities have discretion over the use to which they put this funding but the Memorandum of Grant assigns three principal objectives to it:
(a) to help local authorities maintain an accurate and up to date assessment of the provision of, and demand for, childcare in their respective areas;
(b) to help local authorities secure a sufficient supply of childcare across their area, through their management of the local childcare market; and
(c) to ensure that the needs of potentially excluded groups are met
The total funding across the country for sufficiency and access within the 2008-11 SSEYCG main revenue block is as follows:
| £ | |
Talent Taskforce
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when the Talent Taskforce was established; what it has cost to date; and what the performance of the taskforce has been against its objectives. [223890]
Jim Knight:
The Talent and Enterprise Taskforce was established in September 2007. To date, the Taskforce’s running costs and programme expenditure come to £2,554,708. The objective is to promote the economic and social imperative of developing talent and skill in the UK through engaging influential networks,
organisations and individuals across society to mobilise behind this theme. In working towards this objective the Taskforce has established:
an advisory group of 13 people representing organisations across educational, business and community sectors and who are engaging in the talent agenda;
SHINE, a national festival held in over 2,300 schools to celebrate the talent in every child that took place from 30June—4 July;
The Prime Minster's Global Fellowship. A scheme in which 100 school leavers visited China, India and Brazil to gain first-hand understanding of the global economy and how it will impact the lives of young people, returning to share what they have learnt with their peers;
regional debates on the ‘Talent Challenge’. To be held in every Government region, these debates are bringing together leaders in the business, education and community sectors to consider their priorities on the talent agenda in their region; and,
a project underway in 20 local authorities to pilot online sign-posting to positive activities for young people.
Taxis
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department spent on taxis in the last financial year for which figures are available. [223023]
Beverley Hughes: Details of expenditure on taxis incurred by the Department in the last financial year are set out as follows:
| £ | |
The expenditure is based on staff travel claims and approved invoices received from taxi companies paid via the Departments Integrated Financial Information System.
DCSF was established under Machinery of Government changes on 28 June 2007. This response also covers those areas of responsibility held by its predecessor the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
Teachers: Males
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of primary school teachers in (a) England and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber were men at the latest date for which figures are available. [223813]
Jim Knight: Provisional March 2006 figures show that 15.5 per cent. of full-time regular teachers employed in local authority maintained primary schools in England are male compared with 16.5 per cent. in Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region.
The source of this information is the Database of Teacher Records.
Teachers: Pay
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what the average annual earnings of a supply teacher in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Wakefield District were in the latest period for which figures are available. [223780]
(2) what the average income of a first year teacher in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Wakefield District was in the last year for which figures are available. [223781]
Jim Knight: Information on the average annual earnings of supply teachers is not collected centrally.
The available information on the average income of a first year teacher in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber is contained within Table B4:
of the Statistical First Release (SFR) “School Workforce in England (including pupil: teacher ratios and pupil: adult ratios), January 2007 (Revised)”. Figures for Wakefield district are not available.
Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average income of a teacher on the M6 pay scale in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) Wakefield District was in the last year for which figures are available. [223782]
Jim Knight:
The following table provides the average gross salary, including all additional allowances, of full-time regular qualified teachers on scale point six of the main classroom teachers pay scale (M6) in local
authority maintained schools in England, Yorkshire and the Humber Government Office Region (GOR) and Wakefield local authority in March 2006, the latest information available.
| Average salary of full-time regular teachers( 1) in local authority maintained schools on scale point M6, March 2006( 2) | |
| £ | |
| (1) Included are teachers for whom there is sufficient information on the components of their salary to match exactly their basic salary with the scale point M6. For 17 per cent. of teachers we are unable to perform this matching. (2) Provisional. (3) Includes teachers on the London main classroom pay scales. Source: Database of Teacher Records | |
Teachers: Training
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average number of times was an individual trainee on the initial teacher training course took the basic skills test in (a) literacy, (b) numeracy and (c) ICT in each year since 2000; and if he will make a statement. [223714]
Jim Knight: The available information is given in the table.
| ITT trainees—QTS skills test results | |||||||||
| Numeracy | Literacy | ICT | |||||||
| Number passed | Approximate number of tests sat by those who passed | Mean number of attempts required to pass | Number passed | Approximate number of tests sat by those who passed | Mean number of attempts required to pass | Number passed | Approximate number of tests sat by those who passed | Mean number of attempts required to pass | |
| n/a = Not applicable Notes: 1. Includes mainstream (Universities, other higher education institutes, SCITT and Open University) as well as employment based routes. Source: TDA | |||||||||
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |