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24 Mar 2009 : Column 356W—continued
Departmental Billing
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of invoices from suppliers his Department has settled within 10 days of receipt in the last four months. [266243]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department for Children, Schools and Families reports on its payment performance to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. The percentage of invoices paid within the Government’s 10 day target over the last four months were as follows:
| Percentage | |
Departmental Correspondence
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many standard letters his Department has written to headteachers of special schools since September 2007; and if he will place in the Library a copy of each. [259296]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has written one letter to head teachers specifically on special educational needs in the last twelve months. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.
Departmental Electricity Generation
Simon Hughes:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent by his Department on (a) capital expenditure
and (b) maintenance and running costs for standby diesel generators for backup electricity on the departmental estate in each year since March 1997. [264093]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has not committed any capital expenditure for the purchase of standby generators during the period 1997 to date.
The Department has two standby generators that kick in the event of a major power failure but have never been actively used. Both generators are subject to an annual load test lasting one hour and the cost of this test both in fuel and maintenance is so small that the information cannot be gleaned from the overall cost of maintaining the estate.
Gifted Children: Essex
Mr. Newmark: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Braintree constituency and (ii) Essex have a gifted and talented register; [264440]
(2) how many and what proportion of school pupils in (a) Braintree constituency, (b) Essex and (c) England are on the gifted and talented register in (i) the primary and (ii) secondary sector. [264441]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department does not collect data on which schools have a register of gifted and talented learners. Through the School Census schools are asked to confirm the gifted and talented pupils they have identified. In the summer 2008 Census, 95 per cent. of secondary schools and 78 per cent. of primary schools nationally confirmed they were identifying gifted and talented pupils. The comparable figures for Essex were 84 per cent. and 83 per cent. respectively. These data are not available for Braintree.
The following table shows the number and proportion of gifted and talented pupils attending primary and secondary schools in Braintree, Essex and England according to the summer 2008 School Census.
| Primary | Secondary | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
Gifted Children: Hertfordshire
Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Hemel Hempstead and (ii) Hertfordshire have a gifted and talented register. [265799]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The Department does not collect data on which schools have a register of gifted and talented learners. Through the School Census schools are asked to confirm the gifted and talented pupils they have identified. In the summer 2008 census, 95 per cent. of secondary schools and 78 per cent. of primary
schools nationally confirmed they were identifying gifted and talented pupils. The comparable figures for Hertfordshire were 94 per cent. and 82 per cent. respectively.
These data are not available for Hemel Hempstead, but the following table shows the number and proportion of gifted and talented pupils attending primary and secondary schools in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire and England according to the summer 2008 School Census.
| Primary | Secondary | |||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
Israel: Anniversaries
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families to which events held in the United Kingdom to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel he was invited as the representative of the Government; which such invitations he (a) accepted and (b) declined; and if he will make a statement. [261393]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families attended and spoke at the ‘Salute to Israel’ celebration of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel in Trafalgar Square. The Department does not retain information on other invitations that may have been received and declined.
Pupils: Bullying
James Brokenshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what guidance his Department has given to schools on reducing levels of cyberbullying; [263935]
(2) how much his Department has spent on each of its campaigns to reduce levels of cyberbullying in each of the last three years; [263936]
(3) who the members are of the cyberbullying taskforce; and how many times the taskforce has met. [263946]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department published detailed guidance for schools on how to prevent and tackle cyberbullying in September 2007. We have also produced a resource pack for school staff consisting of a DVD and booklet on cyberbullying. I have asked the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the National Strategies to work with local authorities and schools to ensure the cyberbullying guidance is implemented effectively locally, and that schools make effective use of the other materials.
We ran a cyberbullying campaign specifically targeted at young people aged 12 to 14 to raise awareness. The first phase of the campaign ran from October to December 2007 at a cost of around £200,000 and the second phase ran from November 2008 to February 2009 and cost around £220,000. In addition, the Department was able
to secure free additional advertising space from a range of internet service providers with a total value of around £135,000.
The Cyberbullying Taskforce has met on six separate occasions. The Taskforce was chaired once by Jim Knight and once by Kevin Brennan. The members of the Cyberbullying Taskforce are:
| Task force members | Organisation |
|
Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) | |
|
National Association of School Masters and Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) | |
Shrewsbury House School
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether his Department has received reports of bullying at Shrewsbury House School, Ditton Road, Surbiton, Surrey in the last five years. [263404]
Beverley Hughes: The Department has not received any reports of bullying at Shrewsbury House School within the last five years.
Special Educational Needs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils with (a) a statement of special educational needs and (b) unstatemented special educational needs achieved five A* to G grades at GCSE (i) in all subjects and (ii) including English and mathematics in each year since 2003, broken down by type of school. [253438]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information is provided in the tables.
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