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9 Mar 2009 : Column 202W—continued
Schools: Inspections
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether Ofsted inspectors are subject to a Criminal Records Bureau check before taking up their appointment. [260054]
Jim Knight: 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 the Library.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 4 March 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for a response.
All Ofsted inspectors are subject to Criminal Records Bureau checks when they are appointed and before they start working for Ofsted. This applies to those we employ directly and those who undertake inspection work on behalf of our inspection service providers.
A copy of this reply has been sent to the right hon. Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the Library of both Houses.
Schools: Sexuality
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent by his Department on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender History Month; and what guidance his Department has issued to schools on the matter. [260719]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In November 2008, the Department agreed to support School's Out with funding for the launch of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) History Month. A grant of up to £14,960 was provided by the Department for this event. The Department has not issued any guidance to schools on LGBT History Month.
Schools: South West
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to provide facilities in schools for (a) sporting activity and (b) participation in the arts for young people in the South West. [253498]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Through Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and the Primary Capital Programme, all authorities will have the opportunity to review local provision strategically. As authorities enter BSF, they are now required to establish a PE and Sport Stakeholder Group, which inputs to the programme throughout the various phases of the programme, from the initial vision and on to development and delivery. The Strategy for Change guidance sets out expectations for sport, and is currently being revised to include culture.
In addition, a total of £3.9 million has been awarded to specialist sports colleges in the south-west as part of the £30 million capital programme to improve sports facilities at the most needy sports colleges.
Special Educational Needs: Pilot Schemes
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which pilot schemes related to special educational needs his Department will run in 2009. [260939]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We have commissioned and will be running throughout 2009 several pilot projects in relation to special educational needs (SEN).
We have been funding the ‘No to Failure’ project since 2007 (2009 will be the last year of its funding) to trailblaze and evaluate the impact of specialist teaching for children with dyslexia, with three local authorities, and schools within their area, taking part in the pilots.
We have been funding Dyslexia Action since 2008 to run Partnership for Literacy pilots until 2010. These pilots will provide a body of specialist knowledge in each school so they are better placed to meet the needs of children struggling in the bottom 10 per cent. of attainment, including those at risk of dyslexia.
The Lamb inquiry commissioned eight projects, to run over the 2008/09 school year. These will provide opportunities for local authorities to work with partners to explore ways of increasing parental confidence in the SEN assessment process.
We also have pilot projects that have started or are due to start in 2009. We have commenced a pilot project to raise awareness and status of British Sign Language (BSL). This project started in January 2009 and will run until 2011; in addition to awareness raising one of the project's key objectives is to increase the BSL skill levels of the children's work force to meet the needs of pupil who use BSL.
The ‘Achievement for All’ pilots are intended to improve outcomes and progress of children with SEN and disabled children. The pilots will begin in schools in September 2009 in 10 local authorities.
We will start a pilot on improving the supply of curriculum materials for visually impaired and dyslexic pupils in spring 2009.
Additionally, the Department also runs a grant programme (the Children and Young People and Families Grant programme), which funds projects, and there are a number of funded pathfinders. We also run a number of general pilots that benefit children with SEN, for example the ‘Making Good Progress’ pilots.
Teachers TV
Mr. Rob Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) hits and (b) unique users the Teachers TV website has received in each year since its inception. [261041]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Data are only collected on the number of unique users and the number of visits. Data on the number of hits that the Teachers TV website receives have not been collected since April 2006, as this was not considered an accurate way to measure success.
The data are set out in the following table:
| Number of unique users | Number of visits | Number of hits | |
| (1 )Does not include data for April 2005. (2) Includes only data on the number of hits from January to April 2006. (3) Data relate to January 2009. | |||
Teachers: Training
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the (a) target number of places and (b) number of places filled for (i) mathematics, (ii) physics and (iii) chemistry teacher trainees for each type of teacher training was in each of the last 10 years. [260809]
Jim Knight: The following table shows the number of training places made available to the Training and Development Agency (TDA) for mathematics and science for the academic years from 1999/2000 to 2008/09:
| Initial teacher training (ITT) places( 1) by subject, 1999/2000 to 2008/09, England | ||
| Mathematics | Science | |
| (1 )Targets prior to 2008/09 include School Centred ITT but exclude Employment Based ITT (EBITT). Targets for 2008/09 include EBITT, but exclude Teach First. (2 )1999/2000 places exclude 600 Maths and Science 600 Scheme places. Source: DCSF | ||
Recruitment figures to mainstream college-based ITT courses in these subjects for each academic year between 1999/2000 and 2008/09 are shown in the following table:
| Recruitment to mainstream ITT Courses( 1, 2) , 1999/2000 to 2008/09 | ||||||||||
| England | 1999/2000 | 2000/01 | 2001/02 | 2002/03 | 2003/04 | 2004/05 | 2005/06 | 2006/07 | 2007/08 | 2008/09( 3) |
| (1 )Figures cover universities and other HE institutions, SCITT and OU but exclude employment based routes. (2 )Recruitment numbers shown are rounded to the nearest 10. (3 )Recruitment figures for 2008/09 are provisional and are subject to change. They comprise actual registrations and trainees who are expected to enter ITT during the academic year. (4 )Prior to 2006/07, the breakdown for science subjects was not available. Source: TDA Survey of ITT Providers/Trainee Numbers Census. | ||||||||||
Recruitment figures to employer based ITT courses in these subjects for each academic year between 1999/2000 and 2008/09 are shown in the following table:
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