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11 May 2009 : Column 595W—continued
Special Educational Needs
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils with special educational needs attended mainstream schools assessed by Ofsted as inadequate in each year since 1997. [269876]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: 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 30 April 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, for reply.
Table A shows how many pupils with and without special educational needs attended mainstream schools (including nursery, primary and secondary schools and excluding special schools and pupil referral units) that were in special measures at the end of each academic year since 1997/98. Table B shows these figures as percentages.
Special measures is an Ofsted category, defined in the Education Act 2005, meaning that a school is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement. Please be aware that the framework for inspecting maintained schools changed in September 2005. As a result, there has been no consistent ‘inadequate’ category over this period. These tables are, therefore, limited to those maintained schools placed in special measures, as this category has been in place throughout the period in question.
Pupil numbers have been calculated using information from the Department for Children, Schools and Families’ School Census (pupil-level) on pupils registered at one school only, and on pupils registered at two schools, but using their main school as recorded on the census, taken in January of each year.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Jim Knight MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
| Table A: Number of pupils with and without special educational needs, attending nursery, primary and secondary schools which were in special measures at the end of each academic year since 1997/98 | |||
| Number of pupils in schools placed in special measures | |||
| With special educational needs | Without special educational needs | Total | |
| Note: Figures are based on School Census (pupil level) data from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. | |||
Teachers
Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school teachers have worked in (i) one, (ii) two and (iii) three or more schools in the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [273399]
Jim Knight: The information is not collected centrally.
Teachers: Pensions
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the administration costs of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme were in each of the last 10 years. [272651]
Jim Knight: Following a competitive tendering exercise, a seven year contract for the administration of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme was awarded to Capita in 1996 . The contract value was £70 million. The contract was re-tendered at the end of the first contract period and Capita was awarded a new seven year contract in October 2003. The value of this contract is £62 million. In both contracts, payments were spread evenly across the contract period.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what guidance the Teachers’ Pension Scheme issues on enhancements under the scheme for teaching staff who are members of the scheme and (a) are made redundant, (b) take early retirement other than on grounds of ill health and (c) take early retirement on grounds of ill health; [272654]
(2) what his policy is on the size of redundancy payments for teaching staff; and if he will make a statement. [272655]
Jim Knight: The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (England and Wales) is governed by the Teachers’ Pensions Regulations 1997 (as amended) which provide for payment of enhanced benefits in circumstances where a person is entitled to ill-health retirement benefits and their ability to undertake any form of gainful employment is severely impaired. These regulations also enable an employer to award premature retirement benefits to teachers whose employment has been terminated on grounds of redundancy or in the interests of the efficient discharge of the employer’s functions. The regulations contain no provision for employers to award enhanced premature retirement benefits from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.
Provision for employers to enhance premature retirement benefits up to prescribed maxima is contained in the Teachers (Compensation for Redundancy and Premature Retirement) Regulations 1997 (as amended).
These regulations also enable employers to award redundancy payments that exceed the minimum payable under employment law. All payments made under these regulations are met in full by the employer and it is for each employer to determine the circumstances when payments are made to individuals and to be satisfied that the payments do not exceed the prescribed limits.
Steve Webb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the cost of pension payments to teaching staff who have taken early retirement between the date of their retirement and the date they reached the Teachers’ Pension Scheme normal retirement age was in each of the last five years. [272656]
Jim Knight: The Teachers’ Pension Scheme (England and Wales) is a statutory scheme and pension payments are determined in line with regulations. Under those regulations, there are no additional scheme costs resulting from cases where teachers retire early other than where retirement is on the grounds of ill health where unreduced, and sometimes enhanced, benefits are put into payment.
In all other cases of early retirement, benefits payable from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme are automatically reduced to take account of the fact that they are put into payment before the scheme’s normal pension age and therefore have the same actuarial value as if they had been paid at normal pension age.
The Department has been working alongside employers and the teacher representative groups to seek to improve the care and support afforded to ill teachers, and thereby reduce rates of ill health retirement.
Young People: Nutrition
Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he is taking to help young people understand the nutritional content of packaged foods; and if he will make a statement. [272848]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: All secondary school students have an entitlement to undertake the ‘Licence to Cook’ programme. Included in the programme is a module ‘Wise food shopping’ where young people gain an understanding of food labelling and nutritional content of food they might buy (including packaged foods) within the context of making informed choices.
Such knowledge is also applied through the practical work that the students undertake, for example comparing a homemade lasagne with a purchased product.
The new food technology examination specifications, at Key Stage 4 also require students to know about and understand food labelling and nutritional content and are frequently tested in the GCSE examination.
Young People: Voluntary Work
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what plans the Government has to promote a requirement for young people to undertake community service. [272006]
Jim Knight: It is the Government’s ambition that, in time, all young people will contribute at least 50 hours of community service by the age of 19. On 24 April 2009, the Government announced a £146 million funding package to help get every young person in the country contributing to their communities. The package is made up of the following three elements:
A new programme, beginning this September, offering 20,000 16 to 18-year-olds the opportunity to undertake full time community service, alongside achieving relevant qualifications, as part of the Entry to Employment programme;
A set of intensive pilots designed to test ways of significantly increasing the proportions of young people within a given area participating in community service. These pilots will begin during the forthcoming school year and will work with schools and youth and community organisations in a number of areas, to involve some 14,000 school pupils aged 14-16;
Building on the foundations created by citizenship education, a new package of support to enable all schools to provide opportunities for their pupils aged 14-16 to participate in community service. This will include enabling relevant agencies including V (the national youth volunteering organisation) to support all schools in identifying and arranging suitable service opportunities; new guidance and support for schools on how to facilitate effective service learning; and work to develop an effective accreditation approach.
Innovation, Universities and Skills
Apprentices: Local Government
Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) apprenticeships and (b) advanced apprenticeships each local authority is providing. [274420]
Mr. Simon: I have placed a copy of a table, showing apprenticeship and advanced apprenticeship starts in each local authority in 2007/08, in the House Libraries.
Bologna Process
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what matters were discussed at the recent Ministerial meeting on the Bologna Process; who attended the meeting; and if he will make a statement. [273606]
Mr. Lammy: I led the UK delegation at the meeting of higher education Ministers from the 46 countries participating in the Bologna process, held in Leuven/Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium on 28-29 April. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss progress in implementing the Bologna reforms to date and priorities for the coming decade. We welcomed the fact that there continued to be good progress overall in implementing the reforms, and agreed that we needed to redouble our efforts at European, national and institutional level to ensure full implementation across the European higher education area. The Communiqué issued at the conclusion of our discussions sets out clear priorities for the future, including the importance of widening participation, making lifelong learning an integral part of our education systems, employability and increasing the mobility of students and staff.
The summit also included the first Bologna Policy Forum, where the Ministers from the Bologna process countries had the opportunity to discuss worldwide co-operation and partnership in higher education with Ministers from 15 non-European countries.
The statement jointly issued by participants at the conclusion of out discussions reaffirmed our desire to work closely together.
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