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15 Jan 2009 : Column 932W—continued
National Healthy Schools Programme
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of schools are involved in the Healthy Schools Programme. [245753]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: As at 19 December 2008, 97 per cent. of schools were participating in the Healthy Schools Programme with 71 per cent. having achieved full Healthy School status.
National Safeguarding Unit
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether the National Safeguarding Unit for the Third Sector has been established; and if he will make a statement. [247383]
Beverley Hughes: Following a competitive tendering process, the Department for Children, Schools and Families has recently awarded a contract to deliver the National Safeguarding Unit for the Third Sector. An announcement on this will be made shortly. The Unit will be established and launched by March 2009.
Office of the Children's Commissioner
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding the Office of the Children's Commissioner received from his Department for financial years (a) 2007-08 and (b) 2008-09. [247465]
Beverley Hughes: The annual budget for 11 Million (formerly the Office of the Children's Commissioner) is £3 million for both these financial years. The Children's Commissioner for England publishes his annual report and accounts, copies of which are laid before Parliament and available in the House Library.
Ofqual: Public Appointments
Mr. Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will ensure that appointments to Ofqual will be subject to select committee scrutiny in line with the proposals on page 29 of the Governance of Britain Green Paper of July 2007. [247064]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Government's response to the House of Commons Liaison Committee report on Pre-appointment hearings by Select Committees was published in June 2008 (ref: First Special Report of Session 2007-2008 HC594). It contains a revised list of all posts that the Government consider suitable for pre-appointment hearings by parliamentary Select Committees.
The post of chair of Ofqual, the new independent regulator of qualifications and tests which, subject to parliamentary approval will be established in the Children, Skills and Learning Bill in the current session, is included in the list.
Parents: Advisory Services
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans he has for the launch of the Parent Know How suite of services; and if he will make a statement. [247249]
Beverley Hughes: Parent Know How is a suite of services for mothers, fathers and other carers which consists of telephone helplines, text and instant messaging, web-based services and advice through print media, all of which became operational between April and October 2008. These services will be supplemented by a new online directory of local and national services available for parents due to go live in September 2009. The Department has recently advertised its intention to contract for a further round of innovative technology-enabled services and assets which should be developed later in 2009.
Pupil Exclusions
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children under the age of (a) five, (b) 10 and (c) 15 years were temporarily excluded from state schools in England and Wales for (i) attacking another pupil or teacher, (ii) having drunk alcohol at or before school or having alcohol with them and (iii) carrying an offensive weapon in each year since 1997, broken down by local education authority area. [241270]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Information on the number of episodes of fixed period exclusion broken down by reason for each local authority is available as additional information to SFR 14/2008: “Permanent and Fixed Period Exclusions from Schools in England 2006/07” and can be found at:
Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children between the ages of four and 11 years have been (a) suspended and (b) suspended more than once from school in (i) the Ribble Valley, (ii) Lancashire and (iii) England in 2008. [243269]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 18 December 2008]: The information requested is shown in the following table for the latest period available.
| Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,2,3) pupils aged four to 11 receiving fixed period exclusions( 4) | ||||
| 2006/07 | ||||
| Number of pupils with one episode of fixed period exclusion | As a percentage of the school population( 5) | Number of pupils with two or more episodes of fixed period exclusion | As a percentage of the school population( 6) | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes CTCs and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (4) Pupils aged as at 31 August 2006. (5) The number of pupils with a fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the headcount of pupils in January 2007, excluding dual registrations. (6) The number of pupils with two or more fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the headcount of pupils in January 2007, excluding dual registrations. Source: School Census | ||||
Pupil Exclusions: Children in Care
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many (a) male and (b) female pupils who were children in care received one or more fixed period exclusions in each of the last 10 years; [241716]
(2) how many pupils who were children in care were given a fixed period exclusion in the last 12 months, broken down by national curriculum year group; [241722]
(3) how many and what proportion of pupils in care were given (a) a permanent exclusion and (b) a fixed period exclusion in each of the last 10 years. [241738]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The OC2 data collection collects information on a range of outcomes for looked after children from local authorities. This information has been published in the Statistical First Release “Outcome Indicators for Children Looked After, 12 months to 30 September 2007—England” (SFR 08/2008), which is available on the Department’s website via the following link:
This publication contains figures for the period 2005-07.
Information on exclusions from school can be found in table A which shows the number of permanent exclusions during the previous school year. The OC2 data collection is an aggregate data collection from local authorities and it is therefore not possible to provide this information broken down by national curriculum year group.
Information on exclusions for looked after children was first collected in 2000, figures for earlier years are also published on the Department’s website and can be found via the following links.
Figures for 2002-04 are available in volume reference (03/2005) here:
Figures for 2000-01 are available in volume reference (DH/VOL(OUT)01) here:
Pupil Referral Units: Standards
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will introduce legislative proposals to require local authorities to replace failing pupil referral units with a specified alternative. [247261]
Beverley Hughes: We intend to introduce the power for the Secretary of State to direct a local authority to replace a pupil referral unit that is in special measures with a specified alternative in the forthcoming Children, Skills and Learning Bill, which was announced in the Queen's Speech on 3 December 2008.
This will fulfil the commitment we made in the White Paper, ‘Back on Track’, which was published in May 2008.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made under the London Challenge initiative in addressing the needs of pupils who receive free school meals; and if he will make a statement. [247234]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Since London Challenge was introduced the proportion of London pupils eligible for FSM who achieve five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths has risen from 22.2 per cent. in 2002 to 33.8 per cent. in 2008.
Pupils: Discipline
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children between the ages of four and 11 years (a) suspended and (b) suspended more than once from school in (i) West Chelmsford constituency, (ii) Essex and (iii) England in 2008. [243970]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 15 December 2008]: The information requested is shown in the table for the latest period available.
| Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,2,3) pupils aged 4 to 11 receiving fixed period exclusions( 4 ) 2006-07 | ||||
| Number of pupils with one episode of fixed period exclusion | As a percentage of the school population( 5) | Number of pupils with two or more episodes of fixed period exclusion | As a percentage of the school population( 6) | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes CTCs and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools. (4) Pupils aged as at 31 August 2006. (5) The number of pupils with a fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the headcount of pupils in January 2007, excluding dual registrations. (6) The number of pupils with two or more fixed period exclusions expressed as a percentage of the headcount of pupils in January 2007, excluding dual registrations. Source: School Census | ||||
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he last (a) met and (b) spoke to Mr. Ken Boston of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) about the QCA's work; and if he will make a statement. [245705]
Jim Knight: The Secretary of State last met Dr. Ken Boston on 2 June 2008, in a meeting also attended by Sir Anthony Greener, former chair of QCA.
As Minister responsible for QCA, I have met and spoken to Dr. Boston on a number of subsequent occasions since that meeting.
Schools
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effects of giving International School Awards for those schools which have begun to integrate global issues and international awareness into the curriculum; and if he will make a statement. [247270]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The International School Award (ISA) is administered by the British Council on behalf of my Department.
In 2006, an OFSTED review concluded that:
“It was clear from scrutiny of the self-evaluation forms and the reports that in many schools which had an ISA a significant amount of teachers' and pupils' time was involved in international work. Almost all schools which had completed a SEF mentioned their international work or their ISA within it.”
An evaluation report conducted for the British Council in 2008 found that there was:
“...strong evidence of the benefits that international work is bringing to the curriculum in schools and to pupils' engagement with learning.”
I have placed copies of the evaluation report in both Libraries.
Schools: Transport
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether the specification for the Home to School Transport ICT solution has been developed alongside the process to appoint a solution supplier. [247205]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: An ICT functional specification, aimed at assisting schools in identifying travel needs, carrying out risk assessments and the approval and procurement of a transport solution, has been developed by contractors engaged by the Department. No decision has yet been taken to develop and implement a solution based on that specification or not, and no supplier has been commissioned to do so.
Secondary Education: Absenteeism
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what progress has been made against the target to ensure that no local authority has more than five per cent. of its secondary school pupils as persistent absentees by 2010-11; and if he will make a statement. [247412]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In 2007/08 (combined autumn and spring terms), eight local authorities (LAs) had persistent absence in maintained secondary schools of over 10 per cent., down from 14 in the same period of 2006/07, and 128 had persistent absence of over 5 per cent., down from 137 in 2006/07. 2008/09 (combined autumn and spring terms) data will be available in October 2009.
The National Strategies are providing intensive support and challenge to 42 LAs with high persistent absence, ensuring that all of the targeted schools in their authority are implementing agreed actions to reduce their absence rates. The National Strategies are also working with a further 59 LAs to improve their use of data to support and challenge schools with high persistent absence.
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