---

3 Nov 2008 : Column 202W—continued

England( 4)
	Pupils with statements
	Boys		Girls		Total
Pupils aged:	Number of pupils	Percentage of school population( 6)	Number of pupils	Percentage of school population( 6)	Number of pupils	Percentage of school population( 6)
2 and under	20	0.1	20	0.1	40	0.1
3	410	0.3	240	0.2	650	0.3
4	2,640	0.9	1,250	0.5	3,890	0.7
5	3,910	1.4	1,570	0.6	5,490	1.0
6	4,900	1.8	1,960	0.7	6,860	1.3
7	5,960	2.1	2,320	0.9	8,280	1.5
8	7,320	2.6	2,640	1.0	9,960	1.8
9	8,160	2.8	2,990	1.1	11,150	2.0
10	9,590	3.3	3,360	1.2	12,950	2.2
11	8,710	3.1	3,010	1.1	11,710	2.1
12	9,160	3.2	3,220	1.2	12,380	2.2
13	9,520	3.3	3,340	1.2	12,860	2.2
14	9,740	3.3	3,580	1.3	13,330	2.3
15	9,510	3.2	3,630	1.3	13,140	2.2
16	1,600	1.6	760	0.7	2,350	1.2
17	710	1.0	350	0.4	1,070	0.7
18	180	2.2	90	1.2	260	1.7
19+	10	2.3	10	1.6	20	1.9
Total(4)	92,050	2.5	34,350	0.9	126,390	1.7
(1) Includes City Technology Colleges and Academies. (2) Age as at 31 August 2007. (3) Excludes dually registered pupils. (4) National and total across all ages figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. (5) Includes pupils at School Action and School Action Plus. (6) Number of SEN pupils expressed as a percentage of all pupils of the same age and gender. Source: School Census

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department's policy is on the provision of choice of school for parents whose children require complex educational and specialist health provision. [232458]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The present statutory framework provides for children with statements of special educational needs to be taught in mainstream schools where this is what their parents want and is compatible with the efficient education of other children. It also provides for parents to seek a special school place and to have this preference considered.

The Education Act 1996 places a general duty on local authorities to secure that there are sufficient schools for providing primary and secondary school education
3 Nov 2008 : Column 203W
and requires them in particular to have regard to the need to secure that special educational provision is made for pupils with special educational needs. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires local authorities to consider and respond to parental representations when carrying out their planning duty.

Specialised Diplomas

Mr. Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students have enrolled for the new diploma courses in 2008, broken down by (a) subject and (b) level. [231868]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The latest information we have from local consortia indicates that around 12,000 young people are currently working towards a diploma qualification, based upon returns from all but four of the local authorities involved. By line and level, this breaks down as:

Line	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Total
Construction and the Built Environment	447	942	157	1,546
Creative and Media	536	2,430	637	3,603
Engineering	585	1,780	403	2,768
Information Technology	353	1,146	331	1,830
Society, Heath, and Development	274	1,124	394	1,792

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the effect on student travel (a) time and (b) costs of the provision of a single 14-19 diploma jointly by different institutions. [232331]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Travel arrangements for diploma delivery will vary considerably depending upon the local context, so we do not collect this information at a national level. Rather, local authorities, 14-19 partnerships and consortia take student travel time and cost of travel into account in planning for diploma delivery.

In each of the 40 most rural areas, we have funded the post of Transport and Access Co-ordinator (at £75,000 per local authority for 18 months from September 2008) to allow these local authorities to investigate and arrange more effective and efficient transport for their
3 Nov 2008 : Column 204W
young people accessing diplomas. We have also made funding available through the diploma formula grant to reflect the additional costs of travel between institutions in more sparsely populated local authorities. Details of how this funding was calculated can be found in the diploma grant guidance issued to local authorities and 14-19 partnerships in December 2007. This document can be accessed through the 14-19 education and skills website at

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/

within the 14-19 funding section under diploma funding.

Teachers: Sick Leave

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much time off due to illness was taken by teachers in (a) the Ribble Valley, (b) Lancashire and (c) England in each of the last five years. [231813]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 30 October 2008]: Information is not available at constituency level for teacher sickness absence. Figures on teacher sickness absence by local authority area are shown in the following statistical publications:

School Workforce in England (including Local Authority level figures), January 2008 (Revised)—(Calendar year figures for 2007 are shown in table 24)

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000813/index.shtml

School Workforce in England (including pupil: teacher ratios and pupil: adult ratios), January 2007 (Revised)—(Calendar year figures for 2006 are shown in table 22).

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000743/index.shtml

School Workforce in England (including pupil: teacher ratios and pupil: adult ratios), January 2006 (Revised) (Calendar year figures for 2005 are shown in table 22).

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000681/index.shtml

Figures for Teacher Sickness Absence by Local Authority for calendar year 2004 were not published on the website. The information requested has been placed in the Library.

School workforce in England, 2004 edition (including teachers’ pay for England and Wales)—(Calendar year figures for 2003 are shown in table A6).

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/VOL/v000554/index.shtml

---