Previous Section Index Home Page

27 Jan 2009 : Column 482W—continued

Education Maintenance Allowance

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the Answer of 22 December 2008, Official Report, column 10W, on education maintenance allowance, what meetings he has had with the Learning and Skills Council to monitor the administration of education maintenance allowance payments. [248570]

Jim Knight: During October and November 2008, DCSF Ministers met with the Learning and Skills Council on nine occasions specifically to discuss the administration of EMA payments.


27 Jan 2009 : Column 483W

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many applicants for education maintenance allowance for 2008-09 are due outstanding payments; and what estimate he has made of the sum of such arrears. [250777]

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). 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 both Libraries.

Education Maintenance Allowance: South West

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many young people were (a) eligible for and (b) claimed education maintenance allowance in each parliamentary constituency in the South West in (i) 2006-07, (ii) 2007-08 and (iii) 2008-09. [250776]

Jim Knight: Eligibility for the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) is based on household income. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) does not hold information on the household income of all households with a 16 to 19-year-old who participate in a course that meets the EMA valid provision criteria. Therefore it is not possible to calculate the precise number of young people who were eligible for EMA.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) operate EMA on behalf of DCSF. Mark Haysom the LSC's Chief Executive, will write to the hon. Member with the information requested on how many young people claimed education maintenance allowance in each parliamentary constituency in the South West in (i) 2006-07, (ii) 2007-08 and (iii) 2008-09. A copy of his reply will be placed in both Libraries.

Education: Assessments

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what qualifications are considered equivalent to (a) GCSE and (b) A-level by his Department. [240619]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: All level 2 qualifications approved under section 96 of the Learning and Skills Act (2000) contribute towards the reported performance at key stage 4.

Similarly, all level 3 qualifications approved under the Act contribute to reported performance at post-16.

An exhaustive list of equivalent qualifications and the size of their contributions can be found at QCA's National Database of Accredited Qualifications website:

Free School Meals

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of children (a) in England and (b) in each local
27 Jan 2009 : Column 484W
authority area (i) were entitled to free school meals in (A) 2006, (B) 2007 and (C) 2008 and (ii) are so entitled in 2009; and if he will make a statement. [249889]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The number and percentage of children nationally and in each local authority area that were entitled to free school meals are shown in the following Statistical First Releases. Figures for 2009 are not yet available:

Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008 (Provisional) (Figures for nursery and primary schools are available in table 16 and table 17 for secondary schools):

Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2007 (Provisional) (Figures for nursery and primary schools are available in table 16 and table 17 for secondary schools):

Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2006 (Provisional) (Figures for nursery and primary schools are available in table 2(a) and table 2(b) for secondary schools):

Free School Meals

Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of children accessing Sure Start are eligible for free school meals. [249103]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information is not collected centrally.

Further Education: Buildings

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much his Department has spent on college buildings (a) in Jarrow constituency, (b) in South Tyneside, (c) in the North East and (d) nationwide in each year since 1997. [249561]

Mr. Simon: I have been asked to reply.

As the following table shows, in 1997-98 the total capital expenditure in further education colleges in England in the financial year 1997-98 was nil.

In total since that time, this Government have invested a massive £2.4 billion and will be investing a record further £2.3 billion across the next three years.

Capital funding for further education colleges is administrated by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) and I have asked Mark Haysom, the LSC chief executive, to write to my hon. Friend with the further information requested. A copy of his letter will be placed in the House Library.


27 Jan 2009 : Column 485W
Capital funding in FE (including ILT): 1997-98 to 2007-2008
FE capital funding (£ million)( 1)

1997-1998

Nil

1998-1999

Nil

1999-2000

40

2000-01

55

2001-02

147

2002-03

233

2003-04

299

2004-05

372

2005-06

377

2006-07

412

2007-08

507

Total FE capital

2,442

(1) FE Capital funding including Information and Learning Technology

GCSE

Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the GCSE and equivalent results were for pupils attending (a) maintained and (b) all schools at the end of key stage 4 in each local authority in each of the last five years. [248864]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The GCSE and equivalent results for pupils attending maintained schools at the end of key stage 4 in each local authority area are shown in the following Statistical First Releases. Figures for part (b) are not published.

GCSE and Equivalent Results in England, 2007/08 (Revised):

GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2006/07 (Revised):

GCSE and Equivalent Examination Results in England 2005/06 (Revised):

GCSE and Equivalent Results and Associated Value Added Measures in England 2004/05 (Revised):

GCSE and Equivalent Results and Associated Value Added Measures for Young People in England 2003/04 (Revised):

Note that figures for 2003/04 are for 15-year-old candidates as figures for pupils at the end of key stage 4 are not published.

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of pupils achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English, mathematics, science and a modern foreign language in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008. [251084]

Jim Knight: The proportion of pupils at the end of key stage 4 achieving five or more GCSEs and equivalents at grades A* to C including English, mathematics, science and a modern foreign language was 24.1 per cent. in 2007 and 23.7 per cent. in 2008.


27 Jan 2009 : Column 486W

GCSE and A-level: Foreign Languages

Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many candidates sat modern languages examinations at (a) GCSE and (b) A-level in each of the last five years, broken down by language studied. [250803]

Jim Knight: The information requested can be found in the following tables. The latest GCSE figures are taken from the Statistical First Release “GCSE and Equivalent Results in England, 2007/08 (Revised)” and can be found in table 10 at:

GCSE attempts and achievements in selected subjects of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in schools (numbers). Coverage: England
Thousand
French German Spanish Italian Other foreign languages( 1)

2004(2)

289.8

116.3

53.5

n/a

21.9

2005

244.9

99.2

52.2

3.1

18.3

2006

209.8

84.8

52.1

3.1

18.2

2007

189.7

75.8

53.8

3.2

18.5

2008

176.4

71.1

57.0

3.5

19.1

n/a = Not available
(1) The 2004 figure includes Italian.
(2) Number of GCSE entries by pupils aged 15.

The A-level figures are taken from the Statistical First Release “GCE/VCE/Applied A/AS and Equivalent Results in England, 2007/08 (Revised)” and can be found in table 11 at

Number of A-level entries 2004-08
Thousand
French German Spanish Other foreign languages

2004

12.5

5.6

4.7

4.3

2005

12.0

5.2

4.9

4.5

2006

12.2

5.5

5.2

5.1

2007

12.2

5.6

5.5

5.1

2008

12.6

5.6

5.7

5.5


Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what foreign languages are offered for study at (a) GCSE and (b) A-level. [250804]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The following modern languages are offered both at GCSE and A-Level: Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Modern Greek, Bengali, Modern Hebrew, Panjabi, Polish, Dutch, Gujarati, Persian, Portuguese, Turkish, French, German, Spanish, Irish, Italian, Urdu, Russian. Latin and Ancient Greek are also offered at GCSE and A-Level.


Next Section Index Home Page