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24 Apr 2009 : Column 908W—continued


Truancy

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children have had at least one unauthorised absence from school in (a) England, (b) the North East and (c) Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland constituency in the last five years. [260803]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information for England, the North East and Middlesbrough local authority area is shown in the table. To provide data at constituency level would incur disproportionate cost.

Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,2 ) number of pupil enrolments with at least one unauthorised absence( 3 ) 2003/04 to 2007/08( 4)
England 2003/04( 2) 2004/05( 2) 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08

Middlesbrough LA

4,740

5,300

4,850

5,780

6,280

North East

46,640

49,190

49,950

61,460

63,440

England

1,306,460

1,406,520

1,431,490

1,706,330

1,713,680

(1) Includes maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies).
(2) Includes maintained and non maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools.
(3) Number of pupil enrolments from the start of the school year to the end of the summer half term each year. Includes pupils aged 5 to 15 who are on the school roll for at least one half day session, excluding boarders. Some pupils may be counted more than once (if they moved schools during the school year or are registered at more than one school.
(4) Figures in italics have been sourced from the Absence in Schools Survey. Other figures are derived from the School Census.
Note:
Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10
Source:
Absence in Schools Survey and School Census (4)

Mr. Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effect on school truancy rates of his Department's initiatives to reduce truancy; and if he will make a statement. [269298]

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department does not maintain records of truancy. The Department's efforts are focused on improving attendance and reducing absence, and this policy is clearly working, as the following figures show.

Overall absence in 2007/08 was 6.29 per cent. for maintained primary and secondary schools, special schools, city technology colleges and academies—the lowest on record, having fallen for eight of the last 10 years. On average 70,000 more pupils were in school each day in 2007/08 than would be the case if absence rates were still at the level of a decade ago.

Persistent absence, where a pupil misses 20 per cent. or more of schooling, is the best indicator of problem absence. The proportion of persistent absentees in primary, secondary and special schools fell to 3.6 per cent. in 2007/08 compared to 4.1 per cent. in 2006/07.

Persistent absence in secondary schools accounted for 27.7 per cent. of all overall absence. All schools and
24 Apr 2009 : Column 909W
local authorities now have to target ‘persistent absentees’ and in 2007/08 persistent absence fell by 17 per cent. in the 452 schools with the highest numbers of persistent absentees.

Communities and Local Government

Beaches: Facilities

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes have been made to the rating (a) system and (b) charges for beach huts in Bournemouth in 2009-10 compared with the previous year; and if she will make a statement. [270268]

John Healey: There has been no change to the rating system. However, the liable party for rates on some beach huts in Bournemouth has changed. Where this is the case, and individual tenants are now liable for rates on their beach huts rather than the council, the VOA has assessed the rateable value of each beach hut separately.

Council Tax

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the average council tax band of a (a) social rented, (b) private rented and (c) privately-owned dwelling is according to data held by (i) her Department, (ii) the Homes and Communities Agency, (iii) the National Register of Social Housing and (iv) the Valuation Office Agency. [270291]

John Healey: For both social and private renters the most common Council Tax band (the mode) is Band A; for owner occupiers the most common band is Band D. The median dwelling value for both social and private renters is within Band B; the median dwelling value for owner occupiers is within Band C. This information is derived from the 2006-07 Survey of English Housing.

Neither the Homes and Communities Agency, the National Register of Social Housing or the Valuation Office Agency hold the data requested.

Council Tax: Valuation

Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many homes were valued in each council tax band in each region of England in each year from 1993 to 1997. [270824]

John Healey: Details of the number of homes in each council tax band in each region of England in each year from 1993 to 1997 are available in issues of Local Government Financial Statistics England, copies of which are available in the Library of the House.

Fire Services: Injuries

Mike Penning: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many injuries were sustained by firefighters in the course of their duties in each fire authority area in each of the last three years. [270031]


24 Apr 2009 : Column 910W

Mr. Khan: The number of injuries sustained by firefighters in the course of their duties in each fire authority area in each of the last three years is shown in the table.


24 Apr 2009 : Column 911W
Total injuries sustained by firefighters during operational activities, training for operational incidents and routine activities
Fire and Rescue a uthority 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Metropolitan

Greater Manchester

186

197

197

London

546

560

604

Merseyside

107

114

90

South Yorkshire

114

118

137

Tyne and Wear

95

100

88

West Midlands

268

174

248

West Yorkshire

229

189

195

Non-Metropolitan

Avon

82

76

127

Bedfordshire and Luton

63

56

62

Buckinghamshire

46

41

50

Cambridgeshire

75

105

87

Cheshire

53

42

49

Cleveland

56

89

35

Cornwall

70

54

68

County Durham and Darlington(2)

42

52

Cumbria

45

41

33

Derbyshire

77

57

64

Devon(1)

141

135

Devon and Somerset(1)

140

Dorset

93

79

70

East Sussex

123

116

95

Essex

200

165

164

Gloucestershire

56

61

73

Hampshire

41

65

83

Hereford and Worcester

51

67

60

Hertfordshire

137

64

106

Humberside

92

78

40

Isle of Wight

16

32

18

Isles of Scilly

0

0

0

Kent

131

133

129

Lancashire

88

70

70

Leicestershire

58

65

55

Lincolnshire

52

34

42

Norfolk

98

99

82

North Yorkshire

61

69

57

Northamptonshire

107

103

99

Northumberland

34

38

24

Nottinghamshire

98

77

52

Oxfordshire

39

67

45

Royal Berkshire

76

78

81

Shropshire

38

43

47

Somerset(1)

26

22

Staffordshire

165

114

110

Suffolk

44

73

65

Surrey

219

138

107

Warwickshire

54

31

48

West Sussex

78

89

73

Wiltshire

65

52

70

England(2)

4,593

4,312

4,291

(1) Prior to 2007-08 Devon and Somerset existed as separate Fire and Rescue Services.
(2) Data for 2005-06 for County Durham and Darlington not provided.

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