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11 Feb 2009 : Column 2112W—continued
National College for School Leadership: Parking
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether the workplace parking charges being introduced by Nottingham City Council will be required to be paid by members of staff in whole or in part in respect of National College for School Leadership offices located within the workplace parking charging zone. [253775]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: No decision has been taken by Transport Ministers on whether to confirm Nottingham city council’s workplace parking levy scheme order, and it would not be appropriate to speculate on the implications for the National College for School Leadership.
Pre-school Education
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of children were working securely within each assessment of the foundation stage profile in the areas between (a) 0 and 10 per cent., (b) 10 and 30 per cent., (c) 30 and 50 per cent., (d) 50 and 70 per cent., (e) 70 and 90 per cent. and (f) 90 and 100 per cent. on the index of deprivation in each year since 2005. [249527]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 20 January 2009 ]: Information is only readily available for seven of the 13 assessment scales; these are personal, social and emotional development and communication, language and literacy. Further information on the proportion of children working securely within the additional six assessment scales and for earlier years can be compiled and checked only at a disproportionate cost.
Information on the proportion of children working securely within these seven scales of the foundation stage profile in 2008, by percentile groups of deprivation, can be found in table D1 as part of the additional information for Statistical Release 32/2008 ‘Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2007-08’:
The latest published foundation stage profile results for children working securely in these seven scales can be found in Statistical Release 25/2008:
Primary Education: Nutrition
Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance providers of healthy eating his Department has issued to Early Years settings. [255638]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets quality standards for learning and care for all settings looking after children aged from birth to five. This makes clear that where children are provided with a meal, snacks and drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious.
Supporting guidance offers a range of information on diet and nutrition for children in the early years, and refers providers to other relevant sources such as the DCSF guidance on Healthy School Lunches for pupils in Nursery Schools and the Food Standards Agency website which provides information on age-appropriate nutrition for young children.
Schools: Furniture
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of health risks to children from incorrectly-sized or poor quality school furniture. [255438]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has not made a specific assessment of health risks to children using poor quality or incorrectly sized furniture. Schools are responsible for choosing good quality furniture of the correct size for their pupils.
The Department supports them in discharging this responsibility by raising awareness of the importance of buying furniture that is fit for purpose. We are supporting the development of an ergonomic furniture website tool to help users identify the appropriate size of furniture for each child. The delivery organisation for the Building Schools for the Future programme, Partnerships for Schools and DCSF are in the process of re-writing an output specification on furniture and equipment. This supports the expectation that furniture is specified to meet EN1729 (the new European standard for educational furniture covering both ergonomics and strength and stability). We welcome the British Educational Supplies Association agreement that all classroom tables will comply with EN1729 by April 2009.
Mrs. Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to ensure that furniture purchased under the Building Schools for the Future programme conforms with the European Furniture Standard EN1729. [255742]
Jim Knight: The Department is working with Partnerships for Schools, the delivery agency for the Building Schools for the Future programme, on an updated comprehensive output specification on furniture and equipment. Within this specification, furniture which meets EN1729 is proposed as an expectation for those involved in the BSF programme. We know that members of the British Educational Supplies Association (BESA) have agreed that all classroom tables will comply with EN 1729 by April 2009 and we welcome this.
Social Services: Children
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which local authority children’s services were placed in special measures in each of the last five years. [241894]
Beverley Hughes:
‘Special measures’ is not a term that the Department uses with reference to its engagement with local authority children’s services. Ministers may take action to engage with and intervene in local authorities where there is evidence of weakness in performance, for example as the result of ‘inadequate’ Ofsted judgment(s) in annual performance assessments (APAs) and joint
area reviews (JARs). Such intervention can take various forms, from offering external improvement support, enhanced monitoring and challenge through to issuing an improvement notice (IN) in more serious cases. In the most serious cases, the Secretary of State may decide to make use of his statutory powers of direction and intervention.
In the last five years, Ministers have made use of their statutory powers of direction in relation to north-east Lincolnshire (2005), Stoke-on-Trent (2007) and Haringey (2008), and have issued improvement notices to Salford, Leicester City and Surrey. We have also intervened without the use of statutory powers or improvement notices in various local authorities, deploying a range of improvement support options, including external consultancy support teams, independently-chair improvement boards and enhanced monitoring arrangements. These authorities were:
Swindon
Barnsley
Cumbria
Sandwell
Staffordshire
Bristol
Isle of Wight
Peterborough
Plymouth
Devon
Herefordshire
Medway
Dorset
Hertfordshire
Thurrock
Oxfordshire
Lancashire
Special Educational Needs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) primary and (b) secondary mainstream schools were assessed as having inadequate provision for special educational needs in their most recent inspections. [252675]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in both the Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 2 February:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for a response.
The inspection judgement relating to special educational needs sits within the Achievement and Standards judgement, ‘how well learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make progress’.
Since the introduction of the current school inspection framework (commonly known as section 5) in September 2005, 16,873 inspections have been carried out in primary schools. The progress of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities was judged to be inadequate in 467 (2.8%) inspections.
During the same period, 3,455 inspections were carried out in secondary schools. The progress of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities was judged to be inadequate in 206 (6%) inspections.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Tim Loughton:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many Key Stage 4 pupils who had (a) a statement of special educational needs and (b) unstatemented special educational needs attended (i) maintained, (ii) independent and (iii)
independent special schools in each year since 1997. [253439]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The available information is shown in the table.
Data on national curriculum year group are only reliable from 2003 onwards. Therefore data prior to this are not available. Information on KS4 pupils with special educational needs is not available for independent schools. Information is given for non-maintained special schools. Information on other types of special schools is not collected.
| Maintained secondary schools, maintained special schools and non maintained special schools: number of pupils in national curriculum year groups 10 and 11 who had a statement of special educational needs and who had unstatemented special educational needs( 1) —position in January each year 2003 to 2008—England | ||||||||||||
| Maintained secondary | Maintained special schools( 2) | Non maintained special schools( 4) | ||||||||||
| Number of pupils who had a statement of special educational needs( 3) | Number of pupils who had unstatemented special educational needs( 4) | Number of pupils who had a statement of special educational needs( 3) | Number of pupils who had unstatemented special educational needs( 4) | Number of pupils who had a statement of special educational needs( 3) | Number of pupils who had unstatemented special educational needs( 4) | |||||||
| Year group 10 | Year group 11 | Year group 10 | Year group 11 | Year group 10 | Year group 11 | Year group 10 | Year group 11 | Year group 10 | Year group 11 | Year group 10 | Year group 11 | |
| (1) Excludes dually registered pupils. (2) In 2003 and 2004, may include some pupils recorded at statutory assessment stage. Includes middle schools as deemed. (3) Including general and special hospital schools. (4) Excludes general hospital schools. Data for pupils with SEN without statements is not collected from these schools. Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census | ||||||||||||
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many maintained special schools there were in each local authority are in each year since 1997. [254518]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to him on 3 February 2009, Official Report, columns 1072-73W.
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