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20 Apr 2009 : Column 246W—continued
Gifted Children
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent on the Young, Gifted and Talented programme in each local authority area in each year since its introduction; and for what purposes such expenditure has been incurred. [268448]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: There is no ring fenced funding for gifted and talented education in local authorities or schools, so this information is not available.
Gifted Children: Chelmsford
Mr. Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils in West Chelmsford constituency have been identified as gifted and talented. [269215]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Through the School Census schools are asked to confirm the number of gifted and talented pupils they have identified. According to the summer 2008 Census 848 (10.7 per cent.) of pupils in maintained primary schools and 1,091 (12.8 per cent.) of pupils in maintained secondary schools were identified as gifted and talented in the West Chelmsford constituency.
Languages: General Certificate of Secondary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of schools with a specialism in modern foreign languages entered all pupils for a modern language GCSE in the latest period for which figures are available. [259097]
Jim Knight: Of all schools with a specialism in languages, 15 (4.3 per cent.) entered their entire cohort at the end of KS4 for assessment in a modern foreign language at GCSE or equivalent in 2008.
Learning Mentors
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils of each age have been assigned a mentor in the last 12 months; and what percentage of mentors are from local businesses. [268479]
Jim Knight: The information requested is not held centrally.
Members: Correspondence
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he plans to reply to the letter of 28 January 2009 from the hon. Member for Northavon, sent on behalf of Dr. G. Bailey of Yate, on Government support for childcare provision. [269022]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has no record of receiving the letter of 28 January from the hon. Member. If the hon. Member can forward a copy of the letter to the Department a reply will be sent within the agreed Whitehall standard.
National Assessment Agency
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what meetings took place between the Minister for Schools and officials at the National Assessment Agency during 2008. [Official Report, 4 June 2009, Vol. 493, c. 5MC.][245828]
Jim Knight: I met with David Gee, managing director of the then National Assessment Agency (NAA), on 17 June and with David Gee and Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), on 2 July. I also met with Ken Boston on 3 July. These meetings related to the delivery of national curriculum tests in 2008. As set out in Lord Sutherland’s report there were regular meetings between senior officials in the Department, QCA and NAA, as part of the governance arrangements explained in the report to monitor QCA’s delivery of its remit.
I also met with officials from QCA on 6 February, 18 March, 6 August, 14 August and 15 September to discuss matters relating to QCA’s wider agenda.
National Curriculum Tests
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils in maintained schools obtained level 9 or above in (a) mathematics, (b) English and (c) science at Key Stage 3 in the latest year for which figures are available. [260543]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Key Stage 3 attainment at National Curriculum level 9 has not been assessed through national tests since 1995.
Ofsted
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 24 March 2009, Official Report, columns 221-2W on local government: disclosure of information, how many people have contacted Ofsted's National Business Unit anonymously in each of the last four years; how many Ofsted investigators have been investigated as a result; and if he will make a statement. [267787]
Jim Knight [holding answer 30 March 2009]: 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 House Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 1 April 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for a response.
Ofsted has only recorded the number of anonymous contacts with the National Business Unit—that may have required action, as opposed to simple requests for information—since April 2007, when the new organisation came into being. These anonymous contacts relate to complaints about schools. Table A shows the number in each year as recorded in our system.
| Table A: Number of anonymous contacts with the National Business Unit that may have required action | |
| Year | Quantity |
Some additional anonymous contacts relating to the compliance, investigation and enforcement activities we undertake on childcare, daycare and other children's services are made directly to our inspectors or local teams, rather than via the National Business Unit. This information is not collated or held centrally and could only be provided at a disproportionate cost.
As these were complaints about schools and not about inspections, they did not lead to any Ofsted inspectors being investigated.
A copy of this reply has been sent to the Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Peter Housden
Robert Neill: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to page 28 of the Department for Education and Skills Resource Accounts 2001-02, for what reason Mr. Peter Housden received an interest-free housing loan; and for how many years he received such a loan from the Department for Education and Skills. [259582]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The loan was provided in 2002 when Mr. Housden worked for the Department for Education and Skills as part of a relocation package from Nottingham to London. The loan transferred to Communities and Local Government when Mr. Housden was appointed as Permanent Secretary on 24 October 2005.
Packages of this kind are commonplace in many major organisations and are a key part of recruiting the very best candidates. The loan is counted as taxable income and is being paid back over a 10-year period. Rules governing loans are detailed in the Civil Service Code.
Pre-school Education: Finance
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to assess different options for funding the early years entitlement. [268984]
Beverley Hughes: The dedicated schools grant formula review was launched at the end of January 2008. The purpose of the review is to ensure that all education to the age of 16 is well supported and providers have the confidence they require to plan their spending effectively over the longer term. We have established a DSG formula review group with representation from central and local Government, teaching associations, unions representing support staff and governors’ organisations. In addition, other stakeholders are invited to attend when the most relevant issues to them are on the agenda. We are also considering the extent to which we can rationalise and simplify the different funding streams to deliver children’s services — particularly relevant to early years.
In addition, all local authorities in England are currently in the process of introducing a single funding formula to support the delivery of the free entitlement to early years provision. While this will not mean that funding levels will be equal across all providers, it will mean that it will be provided on an equitable basis, taking into account the same factors, reflective of costs and that any differences will be both transparent and fully justifiable.
It will also introduce a shift away from place based funding toward participation led funding. There are a number of options for consideration in the formulation
of the framework—for example how local formulas are used to take account of costs associated with quality, flexibility and outcomes, and under participation led funding when children are counted as participating in provision. The Department is assessing these options through a formula development pilot which was set up in November 2007 and now involves 12 local authorities whose experiences and challenges are being captured.
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the processes by which nurseries had recovered the full cost of providing early years childcare places to three and four-year-olds in the last 12 months. [269198]
Beverley Hughes: Independent research shows that the funding at the national level is sufficient with around £4 billion being spent by local authorities on provision for under fives in 2007-08, including the free entitlement for three and four-year-olds. This amount is up from around £1 billion in 1997-98. The research, conducted by Hedra in 2007 can be found at:
The cost of delivering the free entitlement will vary from region to region therefore it is for local authorities to make any assessments. As part of the requirement to introduce a single funding formula to support the delivery of the flexible extension to the free entitlement, all local authorities are required to undertake a cost analysis of their providers to ensure that the offer is fully and fairly supported.
Pupil Exclusions: 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 of (a) behavioural, emotional or social difficulties and (b) autism were given (i) one, (ii) two, (iii) three, (iv) four, (v) five and (vi) more than five fixed-period exclusions from (A) mainstream primary and (B) mainstream secondary schools in the latest year for which data are available. [262105]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Data on pupil characteristics linked to exclusions were collected in the School Census for the first time in 2005/06, but was collected from secondary schools only. In 2006/07 data were also collected from primary and special schools. The special educational needs status can change between periods of exclusion and the Department is currently working on a methodology for the analysis of this information.
Pupil Referral Units
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) boys and (b) girls in each age group have been in pupil referral units in each of the last 10 years. [266720]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The available information is shown in the following tables.
| Pupils in pupil referral units as at January each year: number of pupils( 1) by age( 2) England | ||||||||||
| Number of pupils | ||||||||||
| 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | ||||||
| Age | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls | Boys |
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