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19 Jan 2009 : Column 1149W—continued
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| School name | Local authority | Specialism |
Star Chamber Board
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the performance of the Star Chamber Board to date; what achievements the Board has made since its establishment; and if he will make a statement. [247273]
Jim Knight: The Department's Star Chamber has been in existence for 10 years, and assesses requests for new or revised data collections, with the aim of ensuring that they are feasible, necessary, value for money and add as small a burden to the front line as possible. In 2006, the process was enhanced with the addition of an external panel comprising local authority and head teacher representatives.
The Star Chamber has performed a valuable role in ensuring burdens on schools and authorities are kept to a minimum, by scrutinising data collection plans. They have made an input into other, related, areas, including advising us about information that should be collected to inform the National Indicator Set. They have also input their views into how the Department's Simplification Plan can best fulfil the aim of cutting the data requests to the front line. In recognition of the balanced approach they have shown, the external panel have now been given the power to make the decisions about whether collection requests should go ahead.
Teachers: Training
John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the progress made under Teach First initiative; and if he will make a statement. [247286]
Jim Knight: Since it began in 2003, the programme has attracted over 1,000 graduates into teaching. The programme was extended to Manchester and the Midlands in 2007; to Liverpool in 2008 and will extend to Yorkshire in 2009. In June, the Prime Minister announced an expansion in the programme from 370 places per year in 2008/09 to 850 per year in 2013/14.
In its inspection report published in 2008, Ofsted reported very favourably on the teacher training provided by the programme; noting that some of the trainees were the best that it had seen in any inspections.
The Government support Teach First because it brings into teaching high quality, well-motivated graduates who would not otherwise have considered teaching.
Teach First operates in challenging urban secondary schools that would normally struggle to recruit such high quality trainees.
Mr. Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which (a) private sector bodies and (b) university (i) education and (ii) mathematics faculties are taking part in the design of the courses that make up the continuing professional development contract put out by the National Centre of Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics and National Strategies. [247330]
Jim Knight: The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics (NCETM) does not directly provide training and development for teachers, it seeks to improve access to and quality assure mathematics continuing professional development. Working with the wider mathematics community, the NCETM facilitates, enhances and provides strategic direction and leadership for all aspects of continuing professional development in mathematics.
Since their inception, the national strategies (NS) have worked with a number of different partner organisations on various CPD materials and approaches. These are for local authorities (LA) to use with schools and are in the form of LA consultant training and course materials.
Currently on mathematics, the NS work with a number of stakeholders including NCETM, Universities' Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) and the Advisory Committee for Mathematics Education (ACME). They are also working with Hull and Reading Universities' Initial Teacher Training departments, Edge Hill University and KPMG's Charitable Foundation, the Every Child a Chance Trust.
Young Offenders
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of inmates in young offender institutions previously had looked-after status in each of the last 10 years. [247856]
Beverley Hughes: Data on the number of young people in YOIs who have been looked after by local authorities earlier in their childhood are not collected centrally.
However, we can say that of the 59,500 young people looked after by local authorities at 31 March 2008, 130 were placed in a young offender institute (YOI) or prison. This is equivalent to 0.22 per cent. of the total number of looked after children.
The following table shows the data collected since 2004.
| Year to 31 March: | Total number of looked after children | Number placed in YOI |
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