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10 Nov 2008 : Column 895W—continued
(b) The Department for Children, Schools and Families in accordance with Cabinet Office guidance did not report any personal data related incidents for the period 2007-08.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what representations he has received on students who have discontinued their studies as a result of the delay in education maintenance allowance payments. [232336]
Jim Knight: In September 2008, this Department received a letter from an Entry to Employment training supervisor who suggested that a small number of trainees may have left their course early because they had not received education maintenance allowance quickly enough.
We have not received any other representations about young people dropping out due to a delay in receiving EMA payments.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of 16 to 18 year olds have received education maintenance allowance in each year since 2001; and if he will make a statement. [Official Report, 14 January 2009, Vol. 486, c. 5MC.] [233164]
Jim Knight: Education maintenance allowance (EMA) is available to learners aged 16 to 19. The number of learners in receipt of EMA in England since 2001 is given in Table 1.
The proportions of 16 to 18-year-olds who have received EMA in each year since 2001 as a percentage of all 16 to 18-year-olds in England are given in Table 2.
Provisional figures for 2007/08 show 46.3 per cent. of 16 to 18-year-olds participating full-time education received EMA.
| Table 1: Learners in receipt of EMA in England since 2001 | |
| Number | |
| (1) Learners who participate in more full-time education and E2E/programme-led apprenticeships will appear twice in these figures may have transferred from one scheme to another during the year. | |
| Table 2: EMA recipients in England as a percentage of 16 to 18-year-old population in England | |
| Percentage | |
Education Maintenance Allowance: Telephone Services
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the education maintenance allowance helpline in meeting its objectives in the last 12 months. [234388]
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 manage the contract with Liberata who deliver EMA. Mark Haysom, the LSC’s chief executive, will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Library.
Education: Statistics
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what data local authorities are required to collect from schools on a regular basis; which of these datasets are reported to central government; and if he will make a statement. [233271]
Jim Knight: No central record is kept of the data collections that local authorities make of schools. The Department records the data collections that we ourselves require of local authorities, and schools, and this is published in a calendar format on a monthly basis, available on TeacherNet, at:
http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/ims/data collections/
Before approving their go-ahead, any data collection proposals from this Department are subject to a comprehensive assessment of their potential burden impact. This involves taking account of opinions of stakeholders representing schools and local authorities.
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of schools in which (a) 0 to 10 per cent., (b) 11 to 20 per cent. and (c) 21 to 30 per cent. of children were entitled to free school meals did not (i) enter any pupils for and (ii) offer examination entry in (A) GCSE separate sciences and (B) a modern language GCSE in the most recent year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [233163]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information required can be provided only at disproportionate cost. Information relating to the 2008 key stage 4 attainment of pupils with free school meals will be available once the NPD Statistical First Release has been published in December.
Head Teachers: Recruitment
Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment his Department has made of trends in head teacher recruitment from amongst deputy head teachers. [234123]
Jim Knight: The head teacher vacancy rate remains low and stable. The Department does not collect the numbers of deputy head teachers that move into headship. Our priority is to ensure that we have enough good head teachers, and that is why we provided the National College for School Leadership with £10 million to work with schools and local authorities right around the country to develop local solutions to find, develop and keep great head teachers. The College has been making significant progress in identifying ambitious teachers and helping them become heads and latest NCSL figures show that more than 1,034(1) head teachers took up their first headship post in England over the past 12 months. These were appointed from a range of roles including deputy and assistant heads.
(1) This figure has been compiled by the NCSL based on 115 returns from LAs in response to the request (made in September 2008) for names and schools of all first time heads appointed in their area.
Primary Education: Computers
Mr. Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has to upgrade computers in primary schools over the next three years. [233654]
Jim Knight: Over £600 million capital funding has been made available through the Harnessing Technology Grant and will be distributed to all maintained primary and secondary schools in England, via local authorities, between 2008-11. The Harnessing Technology Grant can be used to replenish and extend the ICT infrastructure in schools—both hardware and software. Schools can, of course, also use other sources of funding on technology-related projects and services.
Private Education
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils were educated in an independent school in each year since 1980; and if he will make a statement. [233123]
Jim Knight: It is not possible, given the amount of analysis required, to provide a response to this question within the timeframe required by Parliament. The requested information will be placed in the House Library in due course.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils were entitled to free school meals in each year since 1980; and if he will make a statement. [233124]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The available information is shown in the following table. Prior to 1993 information on numbers of pupils eligible for free school meals was not collected.
| Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : school meal arrangements—position in January each year 1993 to 2008, England | |||||
| Maintained primary | |||||
| Number on roll( 2) | Number of pupils taking free school meals( 3) | Percentage of pupils taking free school meals | Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | |
| Maintained secondary | |||||
| Number on roll( 2) | Number of pupils taking free school meals( 3) | Percentage of pupils taking free school meals | Number of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals | |
| (1) Includes middles schools as deemed. (2) Prior to 2003 includes dually registered pupils and excludes boarding pupils, from 2003 onwards includes dually registered pupils and boarding pupils. (3) Based upon school level numbers of pupils who had a free school meal on the census day in January. Note: National pupil numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Schools Census | |||||
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