---

6 Oct 2008 : Column 516W—continued

The number of people accepting offers to ITT courses is a more important indicator of take up rate than applications. Year on year changes in the number of acceptances between 2003-04 and 2007-08 have broadly reflected changes in ITT recruitment targets. While acceptances for postgraduate courses for 2007-08 are a few percentage points down on last year, there are also fewer places on offer.

Figures presented in this response have been published on the GTTR website. Details of what GTTR information has been published is available at:

http://www.gttr.ac.uk/providers/statistics/annualstatisticalreport

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the progress of the National College of School Leadership in developing a replacement for the Fast Track scheme; and if he will make a statement. [223799]

Jim Knight: The National College for School Leadership submitted its preliminary advice for a new accelerated leadership programme to the Secretary of State in June 2008.

Departmental officials are working with the College to enable it to provide further advice and full proposals by early November 2008. The Secretary of State will then respond to these.

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what assessment he has made of the performance of the future leaders programme; and if he will make a statement; [223800]

(2) how many people are expected to complete the future leaders programme in each of the next five years; and if he will make a statement; [223801]

(3) what the budget for the future leaders programme is for 2008-09; and if he will make a statement; [223802]

(4) what plans he has to expand the future leaders programme across England; and if he will make a statement. [223803]

Ed Balls: Early, independent evaluation of the programme has been very favourable. The Future Leaders programme is already helping to address the imminent succession planning needs in London school leadership teams, with the majority of participants to date securing a senior leadership team post.

When we published the Children’s Plan at the end of last year, we announced that we would expand the Future Leaders programme so that by September 2011 there will be over 500 Future Leaders in schools across the country’s major city regions.

The programme is part-funded by the Government; for the current spending review period we have allowed £8 million, of which approximately £2 million will be spent in 2008-09.

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment his Department has made of the merits of establishing a national college of teachers; and if he will make a statement. [223804]

Jim Knight: No specific assessment has been made of the merits of establishing a national college of teachers. However, the DCSF works with the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to support and promote effective recruitment and professional development arrangements, not only for teachers, but for the whole school work force.

We also continue to work with the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) supporting the development of leadership teams with broad skill sets, and with the independent General Teaching Council for England (GTCE), to improve standards of teaching and the quality of learning, and to maintain and improve standards of professional conduct among teachers.

The TDA, NCSL and GTCE work effectively together. For example, TDA and NCSL are leading jointly the project to support remodelling in extended schools while TDA and GTCE work closely on the continuing professional development of teachers.

6 Oct 2008 : Column 517W

Teaching Methods

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the direct instruction method of teaching in raising educational attainment. [222809]

Jim Knight: The Department has not funded any research specifically to investigate the direct instruction method of teaching. However, we regularly review research evidence on effective pedagogy to inform the guidance issued by the national strategies. Overall, evidence suggests that while elements of the direct instruction method may be suitable in certain subjects and in certain circumstances, a varied and responsive teaching repertoire is most likely to engage pupils in their learning and support their attainment. The primary and secondary national strategies promote the use of whole class, small group and one to one approaches to teaching, regardless of the areas of learning including, for example, when teaching early reading based on the Simple View of Reading.

We will continue to support teachers and schools to use their professional judgment to select the most appropriate approaches for their pupils, based on evidence of good practice.

Training and Development Agency for Schools: Location

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his estimate is of the cost of relocating the Training and Development Agency for Schools from London to Manchester. [223766]

6 Oct 2008 : Column 518W

Jim Knight: The relocation of the Training and Development Agency to Manchester is estimated to cost £16 million over the three-year period from 2008 to 2011.

This is consistent with the Government's commitment to continuous improvement in delivery of public services and to providing value for money to taxpayers. The initial costs are balanced by longer-term benefits for the Agency in the potential for cost savings, reductions in staff turnover, and improvements in the quality of service delivery; and the wider economic benefits for the Manchester region

Truancy

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) fathers and (b) mothers have been (i) fined and (ii) imprisoned for their children's non-attendance at school in each of the last five years. [221814]

Beverley Hughes: The Ministry of Justice collects data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the offence under s444(1) for failing to secure their child's regular attendance at school; and for prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly. It is possible, because of the way courts record data that some data are collected under the more general heading of various offences under the Education Act 1996.

The information on the number of people by gender sentenced and given fines or immediate custodial sentences is detailed in the following tables.

6 Oct 2008 : Column 519W

6 Oct 2008 : Column 520W

Number of persons sentenced( 1) and given immediate custody for offences involving children's non-attendance at school, all courts, England and Wales 2002-06
			Number of persons
	Sex	Offence description	Sentenced	Immediate custody
2002	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	769	—
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	1	—
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,055	1
2003	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	786	1
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	83	2
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,187	3
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	239	1
2004	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	778	2
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	259	5
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	1,964	6
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	573	9
2005	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	812	—
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	244	2
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,017	5
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	695	13
2006	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	1,011	1
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	292	3
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,524	1
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	944	17
(1) These data are on the principal offence basis. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. Source: OMS Analytical Services Ref: AHA312-08

Number of persons sentenced and given fines for offences involving children's non-attendance at school, all courts, England and Wales, 2002-06
			Number of persons
	Sex	Offence description	Sentenced	Fine
2002	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	769	511
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	1	1
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,055	1,260
2003	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	786	524
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	83	45
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,187	1,337
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	239	105
2004	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	778	498
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	259	174
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	1,964	1,166
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	573	301
2005	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	812	524
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	244	125
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,017	1,219
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	695	341
2006	Male	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	1,011	699
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	292	158
	Female	Failure to secure regular attendance at school	2,524	1,625
		Parent knows that child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school	944	470
Notes: 1. These data are on the principal offence basis. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 3. The Department for Children, Schools and Families also collects separate data for England on penalty notices, fines, issued to parents for failing to ensure that their compulsory school aged children attend school regularly. Penalty notices provide an alternative to prosecuting parents under s444 of the Education Act 1996 and have been available since February 2004. Data available covering the last three complete school academic years show that from 1 September 2004 to 31 July 2005, 3,483 penalty notices were issued to parents; from 1 August 2005 to 1 September 2006,12,150; and from 2 September 2006 to 31 August 2007,14,625. The Department does not collect data by gender type. Source: OMS Analytical Services 19 August 2008 Ref: AHA327-08

---