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12 Feb 2009 : Column 2254W—continued
General Certificate of Secondary Education
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils who gained a GCSE at each grade in (a) applied business, (b) applied science, (c) health and social care and (d) leisure and tourism were educated in (i) the maintained sector and (ii) the independent sector in the latest period for which figures are available. [246084]
Jim Knight: The requested information has been placed in the Libraries.
Home Schooling: Bexley
Mr. Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the academic attainment of home-schooled pupils in the London Borough of Bexley. [250744]
Jim Knight: The Department does not collect information about the academic attainment of home-schooled pupils.
Israel: Arms Trade
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what military equipment has been exported from the UK to Israel in the last three years; if he will take steps further to restrict UK exports of military equipment to Israel; and if he will make a statement. [249882]
Ian Pearson: I have been asked to reply.
The Government publish detailed information on export licences issued, refused and revoked, by destination, including the overall value and a summary of the items covered by these licences, in its Annual and Quarterly Reports on Strategic Export Controls.
The Government's annual reports, published since 1997, and quarterly reports, published since 2004, are available from the Libraries of the House and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) website at
The Government do not approve any defence related exports if they judge that there is a clear risk that they will be used in contravention of the Consolidated Criteria, including for external aggression or internal repression. We routinely refuse export licences where we believe there is a risk of this, and have refused a number of licences to Israel on this basis.
Luton
Margaret Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what grants his Department and its predecessors have made in respect of the Luton Borough Council area in each year since 1997. [252646]
Jim Knight: The tables showing the grants made by the Department for Children, Schools and Families to Luton borough council for each year since 1997-98, broken down between revenue and capital funding, will be placed in the Library.
The revenue grant totals for 2006-07 onwards are not comparable with figures in 2005-06 and before, because the introduction of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how local authorities are funded for education services.
Before 2006-07 local authorities were funded through Education Formula Spending (EFS). This formed part of the annual Local Government Finance Settlement. EFS comprised school functions and local education authority (LEA) central functions, whereas DSG only covers the school functions. The DSG is based on each local authority's spend on schools in 2005-06, uprated each year for cost pressures and adjusted for changes in pupil numbers. LEA central functions are still funded through the Local Government Finance Settlement but cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department's time series as the two sets of data are not comparable. For information the EFS figures for Luton borough council for 1997-98 to 2005-06 were:
| £ million | |
| Notes: 1. Before 2003-2004, called Education Standard Spending (ESS). 2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of ESS/EFS settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS and LSC 3. Where responsibility for funding a school has transferred from an authority, related funding no longer appears in the series. | |
The Reducing Class Size revenue grants and the Nursery Education Grant were transferred to Education Formula Spending in 2003-04.
The Teachers Threshold and Performance Pay Grant was transferred to Dedicated Schools Grant in 2006-07.
Children's Services grant transferred to the Formula Grant paid by the Department for Communities and Local Government in 2008-09.
Capital figures exclude PFI credit allocations, and supported borrowing allocations as part of Building Schools for the Future. Allocations for targeted capital projects are shown in the year the project started.
The tables do not include children social care services grants before 2004-05 as responsibility for children social care services was transferred to this Department, from the Department of Health, in 2004-05.
Members: Correspondence
Sir Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to reply to the letter from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire of 16 December 2008 on the NSPCC's submission to Lord Laming's review of the Child Protection System in England. [254712]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 9 Febr u ary 2009]: The Department for Children, Schools and Families has no record of having received the hon. Member’s letter. If the hon. Member would like to send me a copy of the letter I will be happy to respond.
Music: Teachers
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people qualified as music teachers in each of the last five years. [255918]
Jim Knight: The number of teachers gaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) via secondary Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses in Music for each of the last five years is given in the table.
Information on primary ITT courses by subject is not available.
| Teachers gaining QTS via secondary ITT courses in music: Years: 2002-03 to 2006-07 , England | |||||
| 200203 | 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | 2006-07 | |
| Notes: 1. Mainstream figures include universities, other higher education institutions, SCITT and open university but excludes employment based routes and cases where QTS was granted on assessment-based teacher training. 2. Employment based ITT excludes cases where QTS was granted on assessment-based teacher training. 3. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: TDA Performance Profiles | |||||
National Strategies Annual Plan Summary 2008-09
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the core subjects referred to in the second bullet point of page 4 of the National Strategies Annual Plan Summary 2008-09 document published by his Department are. [253939]
Jim Knight: The definition of core subjects referred to in the second bullet of page 4 of the National Strategies 2008-09 Annual Plan Summary, is to raise achievement of: literacy and numeracy in the early years and primary school phases; and English, mathematics and science in the secondary phase.
Nurseries
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent estimate he has made of the number of children who will be in nursery care for the period 2010 to 2015. [256462]
Beverley Hughes: Estimates of the number of children who will be in nursery care for the period 2010 to 2015 are not produced centrally.
Childcare Sufficiency Assessments published by each local authority are helping to identify and address any gaps in the provision of child care appropriate to the needs of working parents and those looking to work in their areas. The assessment process is helping local authorities in their strategic planning of child care services by giving them the evidence and information they need to facilitate and shape a child care market that is flexible, sustainable and responsive to parents’ needs. It will also help providers to plan by giving them improved market information.
Offences Against Children: Haringey
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the membership is of the panel for the second serious case review of the child known as Baby P. [255712]
Beverley Hughes: The membership of the second serious case review panel is available on Haringey council’s website.
Parents: Personal Income
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the effects of parental income on educational attainment. [250443]
Jim Knight: While parental income does not determine the educational attainment of any individual child, there is a clear correlation between low income and average attainment, as is shown for example in the data published annually by my Department showing differences in attainment at ages 11 and 16 between children eligible for free school meals and the rest of the cohort. In a public service agreement for the current spending period the Government have set an ambition to narrow these gaps by 2011 and beyond.
Primary Education: Finance
Mr. Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what additional capital grant funding is available during the 2007 comprehensive spending review period for local authorities facing a funding shortfall owing to an unexpectedly high increase in demand for new pupil places in reception years; and if he will make a statement. [255437]
Jim Knight: The Government’s strategy for supporting capital expenditure includes allocating as much of its capital resources as possible before the commencement of the comprehensive spending review (CSR) period, currently 2008-09 to 2010-11. This provides authorities with certainty of funding, which schools and authorities tell us they value when planning capital programmes. It also avoids the danger of the lost opportunity represented by national underspends.
We are providing £21.9 billion of capital funding across the CSR period to local authorities and schools for use on schools. This was announced in October
2007. Some £1.2 billion of the funding was allocated as basic need funding for new pupil places, with the allocations largely determined by local authorities’ own forecasts of growth in pupil numbers.
We also give authorities significant flexibility within their other allocations to prioritise locally, including for new pupil places. We expect local authorities to give high priority to the provision of school places for their school-age population since this provision is a fundamental duty placed on authorities.
We do not hold any reserves for special situations and are not planning any additional funding for this spending review period.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority: Manpower
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people are employed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority; and how many work for (a) the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and (b) Ofqual. [254544]
Jim Knight: The average number of people employed by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) up to the period for which the most recent figures are available (31 January 2009) was 614(1).
Ofqual has been established in interim form under existing legislation since April 2008. Prior to this, regulation was the responsibility of the Regulation and Standards division of QCA, which has now formed the basis of interim Ofqual. The average number of people employed by Ofqual up to the period for which the most recent figures are available (31 January 2009) was 123(1).
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill will seek to evolve QCA into a Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), and establish Ofqual on a statutory basis as the new independent regulator of qualifications and assessment.
(1) Source: Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA): February 2009.
Qualifications and Curriculum Authority: Pay
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what expenditure the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority incurred on salaries in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much was spent on (a) the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency and (b) Ofqual. [254545]
Jim Knight: The total salary cost for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) as disclosed in the 2007-08 annual accounts was £28.698 million.
Ofqual has been established in interim form under existing legislation since April 2008. Prior to this, regulation was the responsibility of the Regulation and Standards division of QCA, which has now formed the basis of interim Ofqual. The total salary cost for the Regulation and Standards division of QCA in 2007-08 was £4.324 million.
The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill will seek to evolve QCA into a Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA), and establish Ofqual on a statutory basis as the new independent regulator of qualifications and assessment.
Schools: Armed Forces
John Howell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding provision his Department makes for schools in England where the proportion of children of service personnel is over 90 per cent; and if he will make it his policy to ensure that such schools receive funding on a basis similar to that applicable to schools serving HM Forces bases overseas. [253814]
Jim Knight: The Government do not have specific funding arrangements for pupils attending service schools. We allocate revenue funding to local authorities via the dedicated schools grant according to the number of pupils they have on roll at the spring school census. It is then for the local authority to apply their local funding formula, which will have been approved by the Schools Forum, to allocate funding to the schools in their area and it is for the authority to ensure that their formula takes account of the individual needs and pressures of their schools.
We are currently undertaking a review of the formula for distributing dedicated schools grant. The aim is to develop a funding system that supports schools and local authorities to raise the educational achievement of all pupils and to narrow the gap in educational achievement between all children, including those from low income and disadvantaged backgrounds. As part of this work we will be looking at the issues for particular groups of pupils, including service children. We will consult fully on proposals before taking final decisions.
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