House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 27 Oct 2008 (pt 0024)

27 Oct 2008 : Column 705W—continued

Departmental Temporary Employment

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which companies have been used by his Department for providing temporary staff since its establishment; and what the value of contracts with each such company has been. [229203]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department was created on 28 June 2007. The Department has used three agencies—Adecco, Reed and Hays—to recruit the majority of temporary staff at a total cost of £1,155,725.

For a small number of specialist temporary staff, the Department has used other agencies but information on this could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Education Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the reasons are for the delays in making education maintenance allowance payments; and if he will make a statement. [230366]

Jim Knight: This is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who operate the education maintenance allowance (EMA) for the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and hold information about payments made under the scheme. Mark Haysom, the LSC's chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.

General Teaching Council: Data Protection

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what discussions he has had with the General Teaching Council about its recent loss of
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confidential data; and what steps are being taken to (a) retrieve the data and (b) ensure that such circumstances are not able to recur. [230365]

Jim Knight: Officials within the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) have been in close and continuous contact with the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE) over the recent loss of personal data for some 11,400 teachers by a recognised courier contracted by one of their data suppliers.

Despite an extensive search of the courier’s vehicles and premises, the disc (which was password protected and encrypted and did not contain national insurance numbers or financial data) was not found. Both the GTCE and the DCSF have taken urgent steps to put additional security checks in place for the affected records.

The GTCE has already changed its systems to ensure that there will be no similar incident in future. It is putting in place enhanced security where necessary in line with the requirements of the Government’s Data Handling Procedures (June 2008) and all future data exchanges with their data processor will be via secure electronic means and not on physical discs.

Outdoor Education: Safety

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to issue revised health and safety guidance on learning outside the classroom to schools; and if he will make a statement. [230263]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department for Children, Schools and Families is currently revising Health and Safety of Pupils on Educational Visits (1998) and its three-part supplement (2002), with publication provisionally scheduled for the first quarter 2009.

Pupil Exclusions

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what definition of internal exclusion his Department uses in its guidance on school exclusions and pupil referral units. [230238]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: My Department's statutory guidance on exclusions, published in September, sets out that in most cases permanent exclusion will be the last resort, after a range of measures have been tried to improve a pupil's behaviour. A number of options may be available to head teachers to manage serious breaches of the school behaviour policy, including internal exclusion.

Internal exclusions can be used to defuse situations that occur in schools that require a pupil to be removed from class but may not require removal from the school premises. The internal exclusion could be to a designated area within the school, with appropriate support and supervision, or to another class on a temporary basis, and may continue during break periods. Internal exclusion should be for the shortest time possible and should be subject to review.

My Department has published good practice guidance on internal exclusion, available at

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12506

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Pupil Exclusions: Autism

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children with autism spectrum disorders were subject to (a) permanent exclusion and (b) fixed-term exclusion from school in the academic year 2006-07. [230230]

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Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information is only available on the primary special educational need for pupils who are classified as being at School Action Plus or with a statement of special educational needs. This information is shown in the table.

Primary, secondary and special schools^{( 1, 2, 3)} exclusions where pupils primary SEN need is autistic spectrum disorder^{( 4)} 2006/07
	Primary schools^{( 1)}		State funded secondary schools^{( 1, 2)}		Special schools^{( 3)}
	Number of exclusions	Percentage of the school population^{( 5)}	Number of exclusions	Percentage of the school population^{( 5)}	Number of exclusions	Percentage of the school population^{( 5)}
Permanent exclusions	20	0.12	10	0.08	10	0.08

Fixed period exclusions
Number of fixed period exclusions	900	—	2,060	—	390	—
Number of pupils with at least one episode of fixed period exclusion	430	2.27	1,100	9.27	200	1.58
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ^{(2 )}Includes both CTCs and academies. ^{(3 )}Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. ^{(4 )}Data for primary SEN need is collected for pupils with a statement of special educational needs or who are classified as being school action plus only. Data here have been taken from the National Pupil Database. ^{(5 )}The number of permanent exclusions or pupils with at least one fixed period exclusion by primary need expressed as a percentage of the school population with that primary need. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census

Pupil Exclusions: Special Educational Needs

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to reduce the number of exclusions of pupils with special educational needs. [230229]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department's statutory guidance on exclusions is clear that, other than in exceptional circumstances, schools should avoid permanently excluding pupils with statements of special educational needs (SEN).

As committed in the Children's Plan, my Department has started work with 13 local authorities which have a relatively good record in reducing exclusions of children with SEN to identify any good practice which can be shared more widely. I anticipate being in a position to disseminate such practice nationally from autumn 2009.

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the factors influencing the proportion of children attending pupil referral units who have been assessed as having special educational needs. [230237]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has not commissioned research on the factors influencing the proportion of children attending pupil referral units who have been assessed as having special educational needs.

The latest available information shows the number of pupils with special educational needs educated in pupil referral units as at January 2008. This has been published as tables 1a and 1b of the Departments SFR: Special Education Needs in England 2008 and can be found at

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000794/index.shtml.

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans his Department has to collect data on the types of special educational needs of pupils who have been excluded. [230240]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: My Department already collects data via the annual Pupil Level School Census on exclusions, and on the primary special educational need (SEN) for pupils who are classified as being at School Action Plus or with a statement of SEN.

It is possible for my officials to draw on these data and cross-analyse primary SEN against exclusion, as I asked them to do in the case of the hon. Member's question (number 230230) of 23 October 2008.

Following the SEN (Information) Act 2008, my Department is considering collecting information on the primary SEN type for children at School Action, in addition to School Action Plus and for pupils with statements of SEN.

Pupil referral units (PRUs) do not make pupil level returns, but a PRU level return is made in January of each year. This does not include information on exclusions nor the primary SEN need of pupils, therefore these data are not available for PRUs. My Department is investigating options for the collection of pupil level data for PRUs.

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Pupil Referral Units: Autism

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children with autism spectrum disorders have been sent to a pupil referral unit in the last 12 months. [230178]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Pupil Referral Units: Special Educational Needs

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children at pupil referral units had special educational needs according to the most recent school census for which data are available, broken down by type of need. [230534]

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Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the previous answer given by the Department on 21 October 2008, Official Report, column 331W.

Pupils: Languages

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many pupils at (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Lancashire do not speak English as a first language; [230267]

(2) how many schools there are in Lancashire where (a) more than 10 per cent. and (b) more than 20 per cent. of pupils do not speak English as a first language. [230268]

Jim Knight: The information requested is shown in the tables.

LA maintained primary schools^{( 1)} : Number and percentage of pupils by first language, by local authority area and Lancashire. Year: January 2008 (final)
Primary schools	England^{( 2)}	North West^{( 2)}	Lancashire
Number of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English	466,420	47,120	7,331
Percentage of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English⁽³⁾	14.3	10.2	9.7
Number of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be English	2,788,320	412,680	68,072
Percentage of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be English⁽³⁾	85.6	89.7	90.2
Unclassified⁽⁴⁾	6,490	560	81
Percentage unclassified	0.2	0.1	0.1
Total^(2,5)	3,257,590	459,980	75,430
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ National and regional totals and totals across each local authority have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between totals and the sum of constituent parts. ⁽³⁾ The number of pupils by their first language expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils of compulsory school age and above. ⁽⁴⁾ Information was not sought or refused, also includes pupils where classification of first language is pending. ⁽⁵⁾ Total number of pupils of compulsory school age and above. Excludes dually registered pupils. Source: School Census

State-funded secondary schools^{( 1)} : Number and percentage of pupils by first language, by local authority area and Lancashire. Year: January 2008 (final)
Secondary schools	England^{( 2)}	North West^{( 2)}	Lancashire
Number of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English	349,040	31,050	4,571
Percentage of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be other than English⁽³⁾	10.6	7.0	6.4
Number of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be English	2,922,790	413,740	66,542
Percentage of pupils whose first language is known or believed to be English⁽³⁾	88.9	92.7	93.4
Unclassified⁽⁴⁾	16,240	1,550	155
Percentage unclassified	0.5	0.3	0.2
Total^(2,5)	3,288,060	446,340	71,270
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed, CTCs and academies. ⁽²⁾ National and regional totals and totals across each local authority have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between totals and the sum of constituent parts. ⁽³⁾ The number of pupils by their first language expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils of compulsory school age and above. ⁽⁴⁾ Information was not sought or refused. ⁽⁵⁾ Total number of pupils of compulsory school age and above. Excludes dually registered pupils. Source: School Census

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