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23 Mar 2009 : Column 98W—continued
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) when he plans to revise Working Together to Safeguard Children; [264378]
(2) when he expects revisions to the framework for serious case reviews to have been made; [264386]
(3) what steps he plans to take together with the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Justice to establish explicit strategic priorities for the protection of children and young people; [264397]
(4) what estimate he has made of the cost of implementing Lord Laming's recommendations on safeguarding children; [264635]
(5) with reference to page 65 of The Protection of Children in England: a progress report, HC330, what changes he plans to make to existing practice to ensure that serious case reviews focus on the effective learning of lessons and implementation of recommendations and the timely introduction of changes to protect children; [265237]
(6) with reference to page 16 of The Protection of Children in England: a progress report, HC330, what new statutory targets for safeguarding and child protection he plans to introduce. [265233]
Beverley Hughes [holding answer 19 March 2009]: The Government have accepted all the recommendations made by Lord Laming in his recent report, ‘The Protection of Children in England: A Progress Report’. These include recommendations relating to the revision of statutory guidance in ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’, strengthening the framework for serious case reviews, setting strategic priorities by Government for the protection of children and young people, and establishing new statutory targets for safeguarding and child protection. As confirmed in the Government's immediate response to Lord Laming on 12 March, the Government will publish a detailed action plan in response to all his recommendations by the end of April.
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department provides to local authorities on steps they should take when pupils are found carrying a knife within school premises. [262911]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Although schools are generally safe places for pupils and staff, the Department has given head teachers a power to search, without consent, any pupil they suspect to be carrying a weapon. This increases the options available to schools, and we issued guidance in May 2007 which includes what to do when an illegal weapon is discovered: confiscating and storing the weapon, informing the police, and delivering the weapon to the police. (The guidance also advised on the existing power, announced in October 2006, to screen pupils at random.) Determining the appropriate sanction to apply is a matter for the head teacher, who has the power to permanently exclude pupils for carrying an offensive weapon, including if this is a first or 'one off' offence.
Departmental Surveys
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2009, Official Report, columns 549-50W, on departmental staff surveys, if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's most recent staff survey results and the subsequent analysis. [265386]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Staff Survey results for the Department and other government departments are published on the Cabinet Office website
I have arranged for copies from that website to be placed in the Library of the House.
National Curriculum Tests
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he plans to take to improve the results of children who were born in August in Key Stage 1. [264507]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: In September 2008, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) became statutory for all Ofsted Registered Early Years settings and early years provision in schools. It contains a number of elements, focused around tailoring provision, to help summer born children reach their full potential.
Furthermore, the Secretary of State has asked Sir Jim Rose to undertake a review of the primary curriculum. As part of his remit, Sir Jim will be looking at supporting better transition from EYFS to primary school, and considering personalised learning, both of which have shown to help summer-born children make a better start to school and learning. The final report and recommendations will be published this spring.
Parenting Contracts
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many parenting contracts under the Education Inspections Act 2006 have been entered into by schools; [263947]
(2) how many parenting orders have been issued under section 98 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. [263948]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department collects and publishes data on the use by local authorities of parenting contracts and parenting orders. Although we do not collect data directly from schools, we do ask local authorities to include data collected from schools in their returns to the Department. Local authorities are not asked to report separately on parenting contracts and parenting orders issued by schools and those they issue themselves.
For the school academic year 2007/08 when the changes under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 came into force, the number of parenting contracts agreed by local authorities and schools with parents to tackle poor behaviour was 2,546.
Use of parenting orders is intended to be a last resort, after local authorities and schools have used a wide range of strategies to address poor behaviour in schools such as voluntary parenting contracts for behaviour. To date, no local authority or school has applied to the courts for an order following a pupil’s serious misbehaviour or exclusion from school.
Primary Education
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will commission research into the impact on children born in August of the resultant reduction in (a) time spent at home with their parents, (b) part-time pre-school provision and (c) school time in their first year. [264508]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: There is currently no plan to commission research to look at the link between children born in August and the time they spend with their parents, at nursery, or at school. However, the Department has funded a number of projects that have looked at the impact of children’s date of birth on their educational performance, and support children to make the transition between Early Years and Primary. These include:
When You Are Born Matters: The Impact of Date of Birth on Child Cognitive Outcomes in England. Institute of Fiscal Studies (October, 2007);
The Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education project; and,
The National Strategies Communication, Language and Literacy Development programme.
As part of his independent review of the primary curriculum, Sir Jim Rose will be drawing on findings from these projects in his final report, on proposals to allow more choice and flexibility in start dates for children entering school.
Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to allow parents of children born in August to move their children out of the cohort to delay their entry into reception class by up to one year. [264601]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The remit for the Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum, asks Sir Jim Rose to consider whether it would be appropriate to allow more choice and flexibility in start dates for children entering school. Ministers will give careful consideration to his final report and recommendations, which are due to be published this spring.
Pupils: Bullying
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many recorded instances of homophobic bullying there were in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local education authority in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [263893]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We are unable to provide figures for the number of homophobic bullying incidents in either primary or secondary schools as we do not collect these data centrally.
We intend to introduce a new statutory duty on schools to record all incidents of bullying between pupils later this year, and will specifically consult on whether schools should be obliged to record homophobic bullying incidents and report these incidents to their local authority.
Pupils: Disadvantaged
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of (a) the proportion of children receiving free school meals, (b) the proportion of children of the relevant age obtaining five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics in 2008 and (c) proportion of children receiving free school meals and obtaining five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics in 2008; and if he will make a statement. [263599]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information requested is shown in the following table: this relates to 2008 and to state funded secondary schools (including local authority maintained secondary schools, CTCs and academies).
| Percentage | |
|
Percentage of pupils in state funded secondary schools eligible for free school meals(1) | |
|
Percentage of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 obtaining five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics(2) | |
|
Percentage of pupils receiving free school meals and at the end of Key Stage 4 obtaining five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics(3) | |
| (1) The percentage of all pupils in state funded secondary schools known to be eligible for free school meals as at January 2008. Information is taken from SFR 09/2008: Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008 (Provisional) (Table 2c) which can be found at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000786/index.shtml (2) The percentage of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 who achieved five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics in 2008. Information is taken from SFR 32/2008 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2007/08 (Table 12) which can be found at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000822/index.shtml (3) The percentage of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals who at the end of Key Stage 4 achieved five or more A* to C GCSEs, including English and mathematics in 2008. Information is taken from SFR 32/2008 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2007/08 (Table 12) which can be found at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000822/index.shtml | |
Special Educational Needs
Mr. Martyn Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students in England have received a statement of special educational needs for each of the last 10 years. [263883]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information can be found in Table 3a of the Statistical First Release 'Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008' and can be found at:
Special Educational Needs: Barnsley
Jeff Ennis: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students in (a) Barnsley and (b) Doncaster have received a statement of special educational needs in each of the last 10 years. [264542]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information is shown in the table:
| Number of pupils for whom statements of SEN were made for the first time 1997 to 2007—Barnsley and Doncaster local authority area, Yorkshire and the Humber Government office region, and England | ||||
| England | Yorkshire and the Humber | Barnsley | Doncaster | |
| Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: SEN2 Survey | ||||
Figures for 2007, which is the latest year for which information is available, are contained within Table 18 of SFR 15/2008: Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008 which can be found at:
Special Educational Needs: National Curriculum Tests
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of pupils (a) in receipt of and (b) not in receipt of free school meals who achieved level five in English, mathematics and science at Key Stage 2 in (a) 1997, (b) 2004 and (c) the latest year for which figures are available. [260538]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The requested information is not available for 1997 as prior to 2002 individual pupil characteristic information was not collected. The introduction of the pupil level annual school census (PLASC) in January 2002, which collects such information,
meant that from 2002, pupil characteristic data could be matched to attainment data, allowing analyses of different groups of pupils.
The 2004 information are shown as follows:
| Eligible pupils | Number of pupils achieving level 5 | ||||||
| English | Maths | Science | English | Maths | Science | Number of pupils achieving level 5 in all three subjects | |
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