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19 Jan 2009 : Column 1135W—continued
Head Teachers
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the outcomes of the Future Leaders pilot; and if he will make a statement. [247460]
Jim Knight: To build on the successes to date of the Future Leaders pilot, the Children’s Plan set out our commitment to expand the programme to other urban areas. In 2009, we will extend it to the West Midlands and Merseyside and to Yorkshire and the North East in 2010. By 2011, it is expected that there will be over 500 Future Leaders in urban challenging schools across the country, working together to improve outcomes for children and lead system change.
Home Access Programme
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the progress of the Home Access Taskforce in devising sustainable approaches towards ensuring that all pupils enjoy home access to personal technology by 2011; and if he will make a statement. [247200]
Jim Knight: The Home Access Taskforce concluded its work in June 2008 and was reported in July 2008. The report is available at:
The Government responded to the task force's recommendations on 23 September 2008 when the Prime Minister announced the provision of £300 million for a programme to support Home Access for one million learners in low income families which Becta was asked to deliver.
Last October it was announced that the launch of local authority pilots in Oldham and Suffolk to allow the development of a detailed scheme for national rollout. They will become operational at the end of February 2009. In addition, the Department and Becta have taken action to support those learners for whom the local authority is their corporate parent.
We have so far made available £17.8 million capital funding to 109 local authorities which will benefit over 20,000 learners over the next few months. We expect to roll the grant scheme out nationally in late 2009 and will embed the rollout of technology within a programme to support parents, schools and local authorities in understanding the benefits of having technology available at home and how to make the best use of it.
Mathematics
Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many mathematics national strategy consultants (NSCs) are employed by local authorities on (a) permanent, (b) annual and (c) termly contracts; and what conditions there are in contracts of each type on publication and retention by NSCs of intellectual property rights to their work. [247331]
Jim Knight: There are 236 Primary and 173 Secondary National Strategies (NSCs) mathematics consultants nationally. As local authority employees their terms and conditions are determined locally and there are no central records of the proportion of consultants on full-time, part-time, permanent or fixed term arrangements.
We have no information on the degree to which specific consultant contracts reference intellectual property rights, and what those terms might be. However, all of the National Strategies centrally or regionally produced materials are Crown Copyright, and are freely available to National Strategies consultants, teachers, and other practitioners. Any materials produced by local authority consultants will be subject to the terms of any intellectual property clause in their contract with the local authority.
Mathematics: Teachers
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding his Department has provided for the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [247400]
Jim Knight: The funding for the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching of Mathematics for 2008-09 is £4,822,854 (including VAT). The corresponding sum for 2007-08 was £4,905,613 (including VAT).
National Curriculum Tests
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what powers were (a) requested by and (b) granted to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in relation to the oversight of the 2009 Key Stage 2 tests; and if he will make a statement. [248016]
Jim Knight: No such powers were requested by or granted to QCA. We are bringing forward legislation in the current Session to establish the new Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) with responsibility for the administration and oversight of national curriculum (NC) assessment. The legislation will also establish Ofqual as an independent regulator of exams and tests. The legislation will for the first time give Ofqual specific powers to regulate national curriculum tests. Ofqual will be closely monitoring and reporting on the delivery of the 2009 tests. Further information on Ofqual’s monitoring of the 2009 tests is available in Ofqual’s response to the Sutherland Inquiry which is available at:
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average funding per pupil was in each local education authority in England in the latest period for which figures are available. [247312]
Jim Knight: The revenue funding figures per pupil for each local authority in England, and the England average, for 2008-09, are provided in the following table. The figures are for al funded pupils aged three-19 and are provided in cash terms:
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