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23 Oct 2008 : Column 582W—continued
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for what reasons there was not a full-scale logistics pilot for the 2008 key stage 2 and 3 tests; and if he will make a statement. [228589]
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 managed the delivery contract with ETS Europe on QCA's behalf.
ETS Europe did not propose a full-scale logistics pilot to the NAA for the 2008 KS2 and KS3 tests. In July 2007, ETS proposed a pilot involving a maximum of 100 schools. The final pilot proposal presented by ETS in December 2007 only required the involvement of 50 schools.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what options his Department has considered for the publication of key stage 2 test results for schools taking the single level tests; and if he will make a statement. [228638]
Jim Knight: All schools' end of key stage 2 test results will continue to be published in the achievement and attainment tables.
Schools whose pupils took single level tests in December 2007 and June 2008 have been notified of the outcome.
The Making Good Progress pilot is being externally evaluated by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Analysis of the first two rounds of single level tests will be included as part of their interim report on the first year of the pilot; to be published later this year.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will publish the minutes of the meeting between the National Assessment Agency and Ofqual on 21 February 2008; and if he will make a statement. [228821]
Jim Knight: The Department does not hold the minutes of meetings which take place between the National Assessment Agency (NAA) and the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual). The hon. Member may wish to approach the NAA and/or Ofqual directly for this information.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the statement of 14 October 2008, Official Report, columns 673-87, on national curriculum tests, for what reasons his Department has decided not to move to internal marking of key stage 2 tests with external moderation; and if he will make a statement. [228978]
Jim Knight: Key stage 2 results are a robust and consistent source of information for parents at a crucial transition point for their child as they move on to secondary school. The tests provide a view of the progress of every child, allowing teachers to best meet the needs of each child. The tests are also important in providing a suitable level of accountability for the public to hold national and local government and governing bodies to account on the performance of schools. It is appropriate that tests used for such purposes should be externally marked.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many companies have tendered to provide the 2009 Key Stage 2 standard assessment tests; and if he will make a statement. [229002]
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 on QCA’s behalf, including the 2009 procurement process.
NAA advise that the Invitation to Tender for the 2009 procurement process has not yet ended. Information about the number of companies tendering for the work will not be released until a supplier has been appointed.
Pre-school Education
Susan Kramer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) which local authorities are involved in the pilot schemes to extend the pre-school education entitlement to two-year-olds; and if he will make a statement; [228676]
(2) what estimate he has made of the take-up of the pre-school education entitlement among two-year-olds in each local authority participating in a pilot scheme; and if he will make a statement. [228738]
Beverley Hughes: The pilot is currently operating in 32 local authorities and has benefited approximately 13,500 children. From January 2009 the extended pilot will operate in a further 31 local authorities and we anticipate that over a further 20,000 children will benefit. The full list of 63 local authorities is:
Barking and Dagenham
Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackburn
Blackpool
Bradford
Brent
Bristol
Camden
Cornwall
Derbyshire
Devon
Doncaster
Dudley
Durham
Ealing
Enfield
Essex
Gloucestershire
Greenwich
Hackney
Haringey
Hartlepool
Hertfordshire
Hounslow
Hull
Islington
Kent
Knowsley
Lambeth
Lancashire
Leeds
Leicestershire
Lewisham
Liverpool
Luton
Manchester
Middlesbrough
Newcastle
Newham
Norfolk
North Somerset
Nottingham
Peterborough
Portsmouth
Rochdale
Rotherham
Salford
Sandwell
Sheffield
Slough
South Tyneside
Southwark
Stoke
Sunderland
Telford and Wrekin
Tower Hamlets
Wakefield
Waltham Forest
Westminster
Worcestershire
Wolverhampton
York.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 13 October 2008, Official Report, column 1133W, on pre-school education, what the timescale is for the pilots underway in 63 local authorities. [229764]
Beverley Hughes: 32 local authorities have been engaged in delivering a pilot, free early education entitlement for two-year-olds, since 2006. We have invited those local authorities, to participate in the extended scheme from 2008. A further 31 local authorities will commence delivery of the extended scheme in phases from January 2009. The extended scheme will run until April 2011.
Pre-school Education: Manpower
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what estimate he has made of the number of (a) untrained staff and (b) staff trained to level (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) three working in (A) private, voluntary and independent sector and (B) maintained sector nurseries; [229699]
(2) what estimate he has made of the number of people with (a) a Cache level three, (b) a BTEC national diploma and (c) an NVQ level three in childcare in each year since 1997. [229700]
Beverley Hughes: The Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey collects information on staff qualifications that are relevant to working with children and young people. The qualifications are grouped together in the levels that they have been accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Table 1 shows the number of paid staff in full day care providers by the highest level of qualification held.
| Table 1: Number of paid staff in full day care providers by the highest level of qualification held, 2007( 1) | |||||
| Full day care providers: type of ownership | |||||
| Highest level of qualification held | Private number | Voluntary number | Local authority number | School/college number | Other number |
| (1 )The figures within this table have been rounded. | |||||
DCSF does not hold data on the certificates issued by specific awarding bodies.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the additional number of staff who will have to enter the childcare sector to extend the free entitlement (a) from 12 and a half to 15 hours and (b) to all two year olds. [229702]
Beverley Hughes: Each local authority has a duty to secure the free early education entitlement in their area including the need to ensure that there are providers with appropriate staffing to enable them to do so. More details of the extension of the free early education entitlement for two-year-olds will be available in the child care strategy announced in June and to be published by the end of this year.
Primary Education: Class Sizes
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils of primary school age in maintained schools are in classes of (a) fewer than 20, (b) 20 to 24, (c) 25 to 28, (d) 29 to 30, (e) 31 to 35, (f) 36 to 40 and (g) more than 40 pupils; and if he will make a statement. [229021]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The available information is given in the table.
| Maintained primary schools( 1) : Classes taught by one teacher( 2) —as at January 2008—England | ||||||
| Classes taught by one teacher | ||||||
| Key Stage 1 classes( 3) | Key Stage 2 classes | Classes in maintained primary schools | ||||
| Classes of size: | Number of pupils | Percentage of pupils | Number of pupils | Percentage of pupils | Number of pupils | Percentage of pupils |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Classes as taught during a single selected period on the day of the Census in January. (3) Includes Reception classes. Note: Pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census | ||||||
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