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30 Oct 2008 : Column 1309W—continued
Higher Education: Admissions
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many UCAS points on average those entering BEd courses had in each of the last five years. [230273]
Jim Knight: The average qualification level of first year trainees on undergraduate initial teacher training (ITT) courses, mainly leading to a bachelor of education is shown in the following table.
National Academy for Parenting Practitioners: Finance
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department has provided to the National Academy for Parenting Practitioners in each year since it was established; and how much it plans to provide to the academy in the next three years. [231619]
Beverley Hughes: The Department has set aside up to £30 million for the academy covering the three year period, 2007-10. The Department provided £7.4 million to the academy in 2007-08, and expects to provide around £10 million in 2008-09, and £10 million in 2009-10.
Funding beyond 2009-10 has not yet been determined and will be subject to agreement through the comprehensive spending review.
National Curriculum Tests
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which officials from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority signed the contract with ETS for the administration and marking of the Key Stage 2 and 3 SAT tests. [230367]
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.
I have been informed that Sir Anthony Greener, the Chairman of QCA, signed the contract with ETS Europe.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what (a) evidence and (b) references were sought regarding the suitability of ETS as a provider of marking services for key stage 2 and 3 tests; and what account was taken of the experience of the California State Education Board in this matter; [232333]
(2) what information or references were submitted by ETS in tendering for the contract to provide marking services for key stage 2 and 3 tests in relation to its performance in similar projects in the US; and what steps he took to (a) verify and (b) test such information or references. [232332]
Jim Knight: Delivery of National Curriculum Tests is the responsibility of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA). The QCA Board took decisions on the procurement and award of contracts and the hon. member may wish to approach the QCA directly for this information.
Playgrounds
Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent steps the Government has taken to improve children’s outdoor play areas. [231570]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In the Children’s Plan we announced new investment of £225 million for play over the CSR period 2008-11, and in April we committed a further £10 million to this agenda. This will fund up to 3,500 public play areas and 30 staffed adventure playgrounds nationally. 30 pathfinder authorities will receive on average £2.1 million of capital and £500,000 of revenue each; and every other authority will receive on average £1 million capital and a small revenue grant.
There are currently 63 local authorities receiving their allocated funding as part of a first wave. These authorities are being supported by Play England, who have been appointed as the external support body to directly assist local authorities in delivering their allocated funding. The timing of funding for all remaining local authorities will be announced by the end of November.
This investment is in recognition of the important part play has enabling children to enjoy a happy, healthy childhood. It will provide new capital funding for every local authority in England, and will provide a real opportunity for Children’s Trusts to transform local play areas throughout the country. Underpinning our new investment will be the first national Play Strategy for England. We consulted on the draft strategy ‘Fair Play’ over the summer, and received a very strong and positive response. We will publish our response to the consultation and final Play Strategy shortly.
Primary Education: Rural Areas
Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department's review of the designated schools grant will take into account the contribution that small rural primary schools make to their communities and to the education of disadvantaged and vulnerable children. [230179]
Jim Knight: The review of the dedicated schools grant is wide-ranging and includes specifically looking at the funding for sparsity, deprivation and special educational needs. The aim of the review is to develop a funding formula which distributes resources in line with relative need, recognising the different costs of educating particular groups of pupils and providing education in different areas. Our aim is to support schools and LAs in raising the educational achievement of all pupils and narrow achievement gaps, particularly those from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds. It will therefore take into account the contribution of small rural primary schools, alongside other schools, in achieving those aims.
All stakeholders, including schools themselves, have the opportunity to contribute to the review according to their interests. We have established a DSG Formula Review Group with representation from central and local government, teaching associations, unions representing support staff and governors' organisations. Papers and minutes from the group are published on the TeacherNet website at:
Pupils: Intimidation
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent representations he has received on bullying behaviour on school buses; what steps he is taking to monitor trends in levels of such behaviour; and if he will make a statement. [231568]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Responses to the Staying Safe consultation, which closed on 31 October 2007, included concerns about safety on bus journeys to and from school. In the Staying Safe Action Plan (February 2008), the Government committed to launching new guidance and training on tackling bullying which takes place outside of schools. Following a competitive tendering process, we have appointed the charity 4Children to develop guidance and training tools and materials on tackling bullying outside of schools. These will be published early in 2009. The guidance and materials will specifically include advice to help practitioners tackle bullying during journeys to and from school and on public transport.
Ofsted’s Tellus 3 survey, published in October 2008, includes for the first time a question on the frequency of bullying both inside and outside school, including journeys to and from school. Although the survey does not include a measure specifically relating to buses, it does include a question on how safe children feel on public transport and journeys to and from school. Responses to these questions provide a valuable source of information on the scale of bullying outside school.
My Department promotes local good practice to monitor and tackle bullying, such as having school prefects act as bullying monitors on school buses. It also encourages local initiatives to tackle bad behaviour on buses, such as the Purbeck Bus Forum which operates in the hon. Member’s constituency. To improve monitoring at a local level, my Department is also proposing to introduce a statutory requirement for all schools to record, although not report, incidents of verbal or physical abuse which are linked to bullying. We intend to consult key stakeholders on this over the coming months and will legislate at the earliest possible opportunity in 2009. We will continue also to recommend that schools supply these recorded data to their local authority, so that trends across the authority can be identified and area-wide initiatives evaluated.
Schools: Inspections
Mr. Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will issue guidance to Ofsted on reducing the number of inspections carried out at schools which it consistently rates highly. [230761]
Jim Knight: Ofsted has consulted on, and is currently developing, proposals for a more differentiated school inspection system under which the frequency of inspection for good and outstanding schools will reduce. This is consistent with the Government’s principles of public service inspections and Ofsted’s statutory functions, both of which require inspection to be proportionate to risk. Subject to the passage of legislation, the new school inspection arrangements will be introduced in autumn 2009.
Schools: Land
Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for what reasons (a) academies and (b) foundation schools are granted ownership of the land and buildings they occupy; and if he will make a statement. [230139]
Jim Knight: The Government consider that schools are more likely to achieve high standards when they take responsibility for their own future. Control of land and buildings, together with the other freedoms that self-governance brings, is part of this. The land is held in trust for the school by the governing body or the trust. There are protections relating to the disposal of any publicly provided land.
The majority of academies occupy their land and buildings through a lease from the local authority (LA). There are in some cases arrangements where academies are built on land owned by a third party (other than the LA) but the land and buildings are leased to the academy trust.
Those academies that were built early in the programme were typically given the freehold of their land by the LA as part of the overall package of transfer of responsibility and control. Since 2006 lease arrangements have been favoured.
Foundation Schools are self-governing and ownership of the land contributes to their autonomy, enabling governing bodies to take decisions about the whole of their school, independent of the local authority.
Shared Residence Orders
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many shared residence orders were issued in each of the last five years. [229627]
Beverley Hughes: This information is not held centrally by the Department.
Specialised Diplomas: Rural Areas
Mr. Hayes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what additional funds will be
available to help rural schools provide intra-institutional transport for students undertaking a diploma course in a joint educational setting. [230055]
Jim Knight: In local authorities where Diploma delivery has started, those areas receive a range of additional funding to support Diploma delivery costs, which includes a consortia support grant, access to a range of training support, and the Diploma Specific Grant. The Diploma Specific Grant is calculated using a number of factors, one of which is ‘sparsity’, so this means that an extra £120 per learner is made available to rural areas in addition to the other support they receive.
In addition, we are also making available £23 million over the next two years to the 40 most rural areas in the country, to help drive local solutions and innovation and support the delivery of Diplomas in these areas. This includes funding for the post of a Travel and Access Co-ordinator in each of the 40 most rural areas.
Teachers: Manpower
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of (a) full-and (b) part-time (i) primary and (ii) secondary school teachers who entered local authority maintained sector service in England in the year after qualification in March (i) 2004 and (ii) 2005 was still in such service three years later, broken down by subject of initial teacher training. [231882]
Jim Knight: The information requested is only partially available and is currently being collated. I will write to the hon. Member with the information and place a copy of my reply in the Library.
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many teachers there were per 100 pupils in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire in each year since 1997. [231923]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the number of teachers employed per 100 pupils in local authority maintained primary and secondary schools in Hemel Hempstead parliamentary constituency, Hertfordshire local authority and England, in January of each year, 1997 to 2008.
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