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8 Oct 2008 : Column 676W—continued
Question 221792 To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, how many markers were employed to mark the key stage (a) two and (b) three tests in (i) English, (ii) mathematics and (iii) science in (A) 2006, (B) 2007 and (C) 2008; and if he will make a statement. Please find the information you require in the table below:
| Total number of markers | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the key stage two and key stage three tests in each year from 2004 to 2008; and if he will make a statement. [221793]
Jim Knight: The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for the development and administration of national curriculum tests. The National Assessment Agency (NAA) administers the tests and manages the delivery contract, on QCA's behalf. David Gee the managing director of the NAA has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his letter has been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 2 October 2008:
The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon. Ed Balls MP, has asked me to write to you about the estimate he has made of the cost of the key stage two and key stage three tests in each year from 2004 to 2008 (221793)
The total costs for National Curriculum Tests for each subsequent financial year (April - March) are:
| Total cost of NCT | |
| £000 | |
These figures include Test Development, Print and Distribution, Exam Marking and Data Collection, Test Administration and Maintaining Standards for Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 tests.
The figure for 2007-8 excludes the £19.5m refund and cancellation of £4.6m in additional invoices in QCA's favour, which was agreed as part of the settlement between QCA and ETS.
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) who in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority was responsible for the negotiations with ETS for the contract to administer and mark the Key Stage 2 and 3 SATs; [222023]
(2) pursuant to the Oral Statement of 22 July 2008, Official Report, column 680, on SATS, when the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority entered into contractual discussions with ETS Europe; and for how long these discussions are expected to continue. [223072]
Jim Knight: The administration and marking of national curriculum tests is a function of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) that is delivered independently of Government. The National Assessment Agency (NAA) is responsible for the marking process. David Gee the Managing Director of the NAA has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his letters have been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 18 September 2008:
Parliamentary Question 222023
The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, has asked me to write to you concerning your parliamentary question relating to who in the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority headed negotiations with ETS Europe for the contract to provide external marking and data collection services for key stage 2 & 3 national curriculum tests.
During 2006, the Senior Responsible Officer for the procurement was the NAA Operations Director. Various types of discussion were held with, and presentations given by, ETS and other suppliers during the competitive dialogue procurement process at which either the NAA Managing Director and/or the NAA Operations Director and the wider NAA team were present.
Letter from David Gee, dated 25 September 2008:
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Rt Hon Ed Balls, has asked me to write to you to answer parliamentary question 223072 about when the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority entered into contractual discussions with ETS Europe; and for how long these discussions are expected to continue.
These discussions commenced on the 8th July 2008 and were successfully concluded on 15th August 2008.
National Curriculum Tests: Coventry
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps the Government has taken to address recent delays in the provision of SAT results to schools in Coventry. [222680]
Jim Knight: The Secretary of State and Ofqual have ordered an independent inquiry into test result delivery problems. Lord Sutherland, who has agreed to lead the inquiry, will publish his reports in the autumn. The terms of this comprehensive inquiry will investigate what went wrong, the reasons for the problems experienced and what should be done to avoid a recurrence in future years.
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for the development and administration of national curriculum tests. The National Assessment Agency (NAA) administers the tests and manages the delivery contract, on QCA's behalf. David Gee, Managing
Director of the NAA has written to the hon. Member and a copy of his letter has been placed in the Library.
Letter from David Gee, dated 2 October 2008:
The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, has asked me to write to you about what steps the Government has taken to address recent delays in the provision of SAT results to schools in Coventry(222680).
The National Assessment Agency is responsible for the delivery of Key Stage tests (SATs) on behalf of the DCSF. The external marking and data collection contract was let by NAA to ETS Europe for the 2008 tests. Following ETS' failure to deliver all test results by the contractual milestone of 8th July, the NAA has taken a number of steps to deliver outstanding results to schools as speedily as possible. These measures have been applied equally across all schools in England with missing results, including those in Coventry.
The NAA took over direct responsibility for all outstanding marking, and for the reviews process from mid-August following termination of the contract with ETS. Markers were required to input marks into ETS' systems to allow pupils' results to be viewed via a secure website. Ongoing technical issues with ETS' systems prevented marks for some schools from being posted on the website. NAA is working with the remaining schools which are missing pupils' results to resolve the issues. In addition the NAA has increased its helpdesk capacity to respond to and make telephone calls to schools with any residual results issues.
Pupil Exclusions: Yorkshire and the Humber
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils in Yorkshire and the Humber were excluded for assaulting or threatening a teacher in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [223815]
Beverley Hughes: My Department collects information on the reasons why pupils have been excluded, either for a fixed period or permanently. This includes categories for “physical assault against an adult” and “verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult”. It is not possible to determine if this relates to teachers or another adult within the school.
Data on the reason for exclusion are available for 2003-04 onwards. However for 2005-06 this information is only available for secondary schools due to underlying changes in the data collection. The available information is shown in the table.
| Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,)( )( 2) : number of permanent exclusions by reason of exclusion( 3) , 2003-04 to 2006-07( 4) —Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region | ||
| Permanent exclusions | ||
| Physical assault against an adult | Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes non-maintained special schools, CTCs and Academies. (3) For the years 2003-04 and 2004-05 the distribution of exclusions by reason has been derived from Termly Exclusions Survey returns and applied to the number of permanent exclusions as confirmed by local authorities as part of the Schools' Census data checking exercise. (4) Totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. (5) For 2005-06 available figures relate to secondary schools only, these show 70 permanent exclusions for physical assault against an adult and 80 permanent exclusions for verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census | ||
| Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,2) : number of fixed period exclusions by reason of exclusion( 3) , 2003-04 to 2006-07( 4) —Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region | ||
| Fixed period exclusions | ||
| Physical assault against an adult | Verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) For 2003-04 and 2004-05 excludes non-maintained special schools and CTCs. (3) For the years 2003-04 and 2004-05 the distribution of exclusions by reason has been derived from Termly Exclusions Survey, for 2005-06 onwards it is derived from the School Census. (4) Totals have been rounded to the nearest 10. (5) For 2005-06 available figures relate to secondary schools only, these show 1,140 fixed period exclusions for physical assault against an adult and 10,280 fixed period exclusions for verbal abuse/threatening behaviour against an adult. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census | ||
Pupils: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of 11 year olds (a) not entitled and (b) entitled to free school meals achieved level four in English and mathematics at key stage 2 in each year since 1997. [225124]
Jim Knight: The proportion of pupils at Key Stage 2 (a) not entitled to free school meals and (b) entitled to free school meals who achieved level four and above in English and mathematics for 2007 is shown in the following table.
| Percentage | ||
| Subject | Not entitled to free school meals | Entitled to free school meals |
| Source: National Pupil Database (Provisional figures) | ||
Further details can be found in the in the Statistical First Release “National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England 2006/07”
The equivalent figures for 2006 are shown in the following table:
| Percentage | ||
| Subject | Not entitled to free school meals | Entitled to free school meals |
| Source: National Pupil Database (Revised figures) | ||
Further details can be found in the in the Statistical First Release “National Curriculum Assessment, GCSE and Equivalent Attainment and Post-16 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England 2005/06 (Revised)”
Further information can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
School Leaving: Qualifications
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many letters he has received from members of the public on the 14 to 19 diplomas in the last three months; and what percentage of those letters have supported the programme. [224564]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Over last three months we have received a total of 113 pieces of correspondence in regard to diplomas, of which four (4.52 per cent.) were specifically in support of the introduction of diplomas. The remaining 109 pieces of correspondence were general inquiries.
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