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30 Mar 2009 : Column 863W—continued
Pupils: Truancy
Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many parents were (a) fined and (b) imprisoned in (i) England, (ii) Enfield local authority area and (iii) Enfield North constituency for their children’s non-attendance at school in each of the last five years. [263913]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The Ministry of Justice collects data for England and Wales on prosecutions brought against parents under the Education Act 1996 for the
offence under s444(1) of failing to secure their child’s regular attendance at school; and for prosecutions under s444(1A), the aggravated offence of knowing that their child is failing to attend school regularly. It is possible, because of the way courts record data that some data are collected under the more general heading of various offences under the Education Act 1996.
The information on the number of parents sentenced and given fines or immediate custodial sentences is detailed in the following table. However, the Ministry of Justice does not collect information on prosecutions on local authority or constituency basis so it is not possible to provide a breakdown for Enfield local authority or Enfield North.
The Department also collects and publishes data on penalty notices (fines) issued by local authorities in England to parents for not ensuring their child’s regular attendance at school.
The figures for the last four school academic years since our data collection began are detailed in the following table. Data are only collected on a local authority basis and not for constituencies.
| School academic year—penalty notices for non attendance | ||
| England | Enfield | |
| Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families data March 2009 | ||
Religion: Curriculum
Mr. Oaten: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number of local authorities which permit the teaching of non-belief in schools as part of the religious education curriculum. [267777]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department does not collect systematic information on the number of local authorities which include the teaching of non-religious beliefs in schools as part of their religious education curriculum.
Special Educational Needs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils with statemented special educational needs resident in each local authority area attended special schools in (a) 2003 and (b) the last 12 months for which figures are available, broken down by type of special educational need. [262903]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information about type of special educational need was first collected in 2004 and is therefore not available for 2003. A table containing the information requested for the years 2004 and 2008 has been placed in the House Libraries.
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what powers a local authority has to place children with special needs into a special school that has attained trust status; [266634]
(2) what mechanism he plans to enable local authorities to place special needs children in special schools which have trust status. [267037]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Under section 324 (5) (b) of the Education Act 1996, all maintained schools, including special schools with trust status, are under a duty to admit children whose special educational needs (SEN) statements name the school as the one where the child is to be educated. Local authorities must consult the governing body of the school, and if the school is in the area of another authority, that authority, before naming the school. Children can only be admitted to a maintained special school if they have a statement which names that school, except in prescribed circumstances set out in section 316A of the Education Act 1996. These include admission for the purposes of an assessment, with the agreement of the local education authority, the head teacher, the parent and those from whom the local authority seeks advice for an assessment; where the child remains admitted to the special school following an assessment; or, with the agreement of the local education authority, the head teacher and the parent, following a change in circumstances.
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many disabled children have been statemented in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [267519]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry [holding answer 27 March 2009]: Information on the number of disabled children who have been statemented in each of the last five years is not available.
The available information on special educational needs, including information on the type of special educational needs, is published in Table 9 of Statistical First Release
15/2008: Special Educational Needs in England: January 2008 which can be found at:
Information for the previous year can be found at:
Information for 2006 can be found at:
Information for 2005 can be found at:
and information for 2004 can be found at:
Video Games: Sales
Mr. Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps (a) his Department and (b) trading standards have taken to prevent sales of video games to those under age. [267890]
Beverley Hughes: The Government accepted all the Byron Review recommendations, including working with Trading Standards Officers on assessing underage sales of video games. Investigating the issue was accepted as a priority by the Executive Board of the new UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) and the Council has taken steps to implement this work with local partners.
This work forms part of the broader efforts to improve parents’ and young people’s understanding of video games and the associated risks, including a review of the classification system by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and a recently-established UKCCIS working group which will deliver the recommendations around online game safety recommendations made by the Byron Review.
World War II: Education
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether the Holocaust is included in the curriculum at primary school level; and if he will make a statement. [266998]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry:
The National Curriculum requires pupils aged between 11 and 14 to study the Holocaust and it remains a compulsory element of the history secondary curriculum. The Holocaust is not a requirement of the existing programmes of study for history for
children in primary schools, but is sometimes addressed in the wider school curriculum. For example The Diary of Anne Frank may be included in the range of non-fiction texts studied in English.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Adult Advice and Careers Service: Finance
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what the annual budgets for the proposed (a) Adult Advice and Careers Service, (b) National Employer Service and (c) National Apprenticeship Service will be. [256229]
Mr. Simon: The Adult Advancement and Careers Service, National Employer Service and National Apprenticeship Service will be integral parts of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and will consequently be funded through the overall SFA budget. Details of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) annual budget are set out in the LSC grant letter 2009-10, located at
Apprentices
Mr. Dai Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what percentage of apprentices completed their apprenticeships in the latest period for which figures are available. [265346]
Mr. Simon: The number of people completing an apprenticeship in England in 2007/08 was 112,600, the latest year for which fully audited figures are available. This is an increase from 39,000 in 2001/02.
Completion rates are also at a record high, with 64 per cent. successfully completing an apprenticeship in England in 2007/08. This is an increase from 37 per cent. in 2004/05.
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how much his Department spent on (a) producing advertising copy and (b) buying advertising space under the Make Things Happen apprenticeships advertising campaign. [266467]
Mr. Simon: The Learning and Skills Council has been responsible for promoting apprenticeships since it came into existence in April 2001. The Council’s acting chief executive, Geoffrey Russell, will write to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy will be placed in the Libraries.
Departmental Buildings
Dr. Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what buildings are owned or operated by his Department under a private finance initiative (PFI) arrangement; and which companies are involved with each such PFI arrangement. [267409]
Mr. Simon: The Department has no buildings subject to a PFI arrangement.
Departmental Lost Property
Mr. Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills whether officials in his Department who have lost laptops that were the property of his Department in the last 12 months have been charged the full value of replacement. [266235]
Mr. Simon: Officials who have lost laptops that were the property of the Department in the last 12 months have not been charged the full value of replacement.
Departmental Public Appointments
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills which former (a) Members of the House of Lords and (b) hon. Members who left Parliament since 1997 have been appointed to public bodies for which his Department is responsible; and who made each such appointment. [267855]
Mr. Simon: This information is not held centrally. Information on board membership and remuneration is published in individual bodies' annual reports and accounts.
Education Maintenance Allowance
David Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what assessment he has made of the merits of introducing (a) late payment penalties and (b) compensation to recipients for late payments of education maintenance allowances by the Learning and Skills Council. [265536]
Mr. Simon: The issue of late payment penalties is a matter for the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) who manage the contract for the delivery of the education maintenance allowance. Geoff Russell, the LSC’s acting chief executive, will write to the hon. Member for Cambridge with the information requested and a copy of his reply will be placed in the House Libraries.
There are no plans to pay compensation to learners whose payments may have been delayed. If learners have suffered hardship because of late EMA payments we would expect colleges to use the discretionary learner support funds to support them as these funds are designed to support learners in financial difficulties who may be in danger of dropping out of learning. All eligible learners who applied before the end of October 2008 will receive their EMA payments backdated to the start of their course.
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