Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Rt Hon Ed Balls MP, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and
Families
Questions 14 and 15 (David Chaytor): Autumn
Performance Report savings
The numbers given in the Autumn Performance
Report are accurate. In the Report, what we actually say is that
of the £2.8 billion of efficiency gains reported by the end
of September 2007, over £1 billion is cashable and over £2.6
billion is recyclable. Recyclable gains and cashable gains are
not mutually exclusive—indeed if a gain is cashable, it
is also recyclable—so they can't be added together to come
up with a final sum.
To clarify; cashable means that the efficiency
frees up money that can be reallocated; recyclable means that
the efficiency frees up non-cash resource, for example, teacher
time that can be reallocated to other tasks within the system.
We report against both categories to show that
while we may not be generating a large proportion of cashable
gains, the majority of our gains are freeing up resource that
can be moved around the system. We will make this clearer in our
next published document.
Questions 19 and 20 (David Chaytor): Projection
of likely number of children in our schools over next 10 years
The table below shows the projected number of
children in maintained schools, City Technology Colleges (CTCs)
and Academies in England for the academic years 2007-08 to 2016-17.
These projections are subject to change—the next pupil projections,
which will be published in the 2008 Departmental Annual Report
(DAR), will be based on 2006 ONS population projections which
include increased assumptions about fertility rates and migration.
There is an increasing degree of uncertainty over time, particularly
beyond 2011.
PROJECTED NUMBER OF PUPILS (THOUSANDS)1 IN
SCHOOLS IN ENGLAND
| 2007-08 | 2008-09
| 2009-10 | 2010-11
| 2011-12 | 2012-13
| 2013-14 | 2014-15
| 2016-17 |
| Total number of pupils in maintained schools, CTCs and Academies
| 7,385 | 7,345 | 7,322
| 7,300 | 7,285 | 7,272
| 7,267 | 7,272 | 7,303
|
NOTES
1) Full-time equivalents aged 0-19 and over, counting each
part-time pupil as 0.5. The numbers have been rounded to the nearest
one thousand.
2) Pupil numbers in maintained schools includes those in maintained
nursery, maintained primary and maintained secondary, City Technology
Colleges (CTCs), Academies, maintained Pupil Referral Units (PRUs)
and maintained special schools.
3) Projections use 2006 School Census Data and mid 2004 based
ONS population projections.
4) The data are consistent with the pre-16 projections published
in the 2007 DAR and with the post-16 projections published in
the Green Paper Raising Expectations: staying in education
and training post-16 (March 2007). The post-16 projections
have since been superseded by the Learning and Skills Council's
Statement of Priorities (October 2007) which contained planned
16-18 School figures, but only up to 2010-11. The long-term post-16
projections will be revised over the coming months to take into
account the outcomes of the Apprenticeship Review and the expected
response of young people to the proposed changes to raise the
education and training participation age to 18.
5) These projections are based on 200 Academies by 2011. Projections
which will be published in the 2008 DAR will be based on 400 Academies
by 2011.
6) Data includes dually registered pupils.
7) These projections include those aged over 16 and it should
be noted that school is only one of several routes available to
post-16 learners. Whilst these figures reflect the Department's
projections of where learners will participate, they are subject
to the choice that will be made by the young people themselves.
Questions 28-37 (Graham Stuart): Commitment to eradicate
the spending gap between independent and state schools, progress
made and progress that will be made in the next three years
In Budget 2006, Gordon Brown, then Chancellor of the Exchequer,
set out the Government's ambition that all pupils should have
access to the levels of support and opportunity available to pupils
in the independent sector. The Government would aim, over time
and adjusting for inflation, to increase levels of maintained
school funding to average private sector day school levels in
that year, 2005-06.
Total revenue and capital funding per pupil in the maintained
sector in 2005-06 was £4,750 compared with our estimate of
£8,000 per pupil in the independent sector. We have so far
increased maintained sector funding to £5,550 per pupil this
year, which is £5,300 in real terms at 2005-06 prices.
The Comprehensive Spending Review settlement for education
allows the Government to take a significant further step towards
achieving its ambition. Total per pupil revenue and capital funding
will rise to £6,600 in 2010-11, or £5,750 per pupil
in real terms at 2005-06 prices. So between 2005-06 and the end
of the CSR period we will have raised maintained sector funding
by £1,000 per pupil in real terms, equivalent to closing
the gap with the private sector target by 30%.
Progress over future spending reviews will depend on the
Government's fiscal position; demographic change; and progress
by schools in continuing to deliver improvements in results and
wider support for parents and pupils.
Budget 2006 also announced a separate commitment to close
the gap between the state sector and private sector levels of
per pupil capital investment. The schools capital settlement for
2008-11 fully closes this gap by providing for maintained sector
capital investment to rise to £1,110 per pupil by 2010-11
which is in line with 2005-06 private sector levels, adjusted
for inflation.
Question 50 (Dawn Butler): The Children's Plan and how
it relates to Every Child Matters Outcomes
The Children's Plan sets out our plans for decade ahead under
each of our Departmental Strategic Objectives. Our Departmental
Strategic Objectives and Public Service Agreements reflect, and
are critical for, the five Every Child Matters Outcomes. We recognise
the need to set this out clearly for frontline practitioners,
and will be publishing a refreshed outcomes framework soon in
light of the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review and the Children's
Plan.
Question 80 (Stephen Williams): PISA Study Findings
PISA
Actually results for maths and science are not widely different,
although England's place in the overall rankings is much higher
for science than for maths, with England placed well above the
OECD average for science, and around average for mathematics.
In science, three per cent of England's students achieved
PISA level 6, or the highest level of attainment, compared to
2.5% for mathematics.
Fourteen per cent of England's students achieved the top
two levels of attainment (PISA levels 5 and 6). This compares
with 11.2% for mathematics.
PISA 2006 is an in-depth study of a sample of pupils on their
science performance and their attitudes to learning science. It
is necessarily a much briefer study of mathematical performance.
However, it gives a reasonable indication of how England performs
at the higher levels.
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS 2003)
England's better performance in science than in mathematics
in the PISA study is consistent with the findings of another major
study. The TIMSS 2003 study assessed the performance of 14-year-olds
(International Grade 8 or England Year 9) in mathematics and science
in 47 countries. The ranking of pupils in England for science
was 7th out of 47 countries, whilst for mathematics the ranking
was 18th out of 47. Proportions of higher performing pupils in
TIMSS for mathematics and science were also similar to those of
PISA with 15% of pupils reaching the highest level of attainment
for science but only 5% for mathematics. Taking the top two levels
of attainment together (out of a possible four levels of attainment)
England had 63% of pupils reaching these levels in science, well
above the international average of 37%. For mathematics, 31% of
pupils in England were in the top two levels, around the international
average of 30%. The proportions reaching the highest levels in
both subjects remained fairly constant between 1995 and 2003 in
both science and mathematics.
Raising attainment in mathematics
The Government has got a strong programme of action to raise
attainment in mathematics, including:
— We have asked Sir Peter Williams to undertake
a review of mathematics teaching in primary schools and early
years settings. The interim report will be submitted in March
2008 and a final report in June 2008.
— We are developing an "Every Child Counts"
programme to offer intensive one-to-one tuition to those young
children who struggle with numeracy. This will consist of:
— 300,000 pupils a year across the school system
receiving one-to-one support in mathematics. This will be delivered
by expanding the Making Good Progress pilot into a national programme.
— A more intensive programme of one-to-one support
for six-year-old children who are struggling with early numeracy.
— We are funding a network of further mathematics
centres with a view to increasing the number of young people taking
further mathematics A-level.
— We have increased the value of the teacher training
bursary and "golden hellos" for mathematics teachers.
The bursary rose to £9,000 from September 2006. The "golden
hello" for new teachers rose to £5,000 for trainees
entering PGCE and equivalent courses in September 2005.
— We have established a National Centre for Excellence
in the Teaching of Mathematics to develop a continuing professional
development framework for mathematics teachers and quality assure
mathematics continuing professional development programmes.
— There are 262 schools with mathematics and computing
as their first specialism.
Question 83 (Dawn Butler): Plans to conduct further research
on the use of ICT in helping children to read
The Every Child A Reader (ECAR) programme delivers a range
of early literacy interventions to support children who are struggling
to learn to read. The £144 million investment covers both
Every Child a Reader and Every Child Counts which focuses on early
maths. National roll out of ECAR over the next three years—to
reach 30,000 children a year by 2010-11—follows on from
a three year pilot and evaluation.
The ECAR approach is based on three waves of intervention
with those children most in need receiving intensive one to one
support (using the proven Reading Recovery programme) whilst other
children, with less severe literacy learning difficulties, receiving
small group support.
Research, funded by the Department, has found some positive
impacts of using information and communications technology in
supporting children to read. This can include, for instance, children
reading and re-reading a sentence from a card until they are able
to type it into the computer from memory with high levels of accuracy.
Where studies have demonstrated positive effects of ICT based
interventions, these effects were no greater than would be expected
from pupils taught by an experienced teacher without the use of
ICT. It is the quality of the teaching that really makes a difference
in supporting children to read, and not the use of specific technologies.
The Committee cited the specific example of the Accelerated
Reader programme, which has been trailed in a number of schools
that are members of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
Accelerated Reader requires pupils to self test by completing
a computer-based, multiple-choice quiz after reading a book, providing
pupils and their teachers with information about their level of
comprehension. The Department is not aware of any evaluation of
this, although anecdotally some schools mention they have found
it helpful in assessing pupil's level of reading ability.
Unlike the Every Child a Reader programme, Accelerated Reader
does not teach non-readers to read. While it can be useful in
helping children who can already read to self assess their level
of understanding, we do not believe that it is a viable substitute
for intensive literacy interventions. It is, therefore, on this
basis that we remain committed to our existing suite of support
and intervention and do not have any plans for changing that approach.
We do, of course, remain committed to learning from the latest
research findings as they emerge.
Question 95 (Chairman): Teacher Recruitment Pilot Schemes
The Fast Track teaching programme has been a national programme
since its inception in 2000. For example there are currently 144
Fast Track teachers teaching in the Yorkshire and the Humber Government
Office Region (GOR).
Teach First was launched in London in September 2003 and
extended to Manchester in September 2006 and the Midlands in September
2007. The Manchester programme will be expanded to a NW region
including Liverpool from 2008. Further expansion to Yorkshire
and the Humber is planned for 2009.
January 2008
| 
