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18 May 2009 : Column 1248W—continued
Trade Unions
Mr. Maude: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 12 March 2009, Official Report, column 715W, on trade unions, what office facilities his Department provides for the exclusive use of each recognised trade union; and what the notional monetary value of such provision was in 2008-09. [271927]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department provides a small office, with furniture, for the exclusive use of the trade unions on each of our four sites. This can be used for confidential phone calls and meetings with individual union members. Other facilities, such as IT and photocopying facilities, are provided on a shared basis, similar to that provided to our other staff.
The notional cost apportioned to the office space provided is as follows:
| Site | Cost per annum (£) |
Truancy
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many schools have pupil populations in which more than (a) five, (b) 10, (c) 15, (d) 20, (e) 25, (f) 30, (g) 35, (h) 40, (i) 45 and (j) 50 per cent. of pupils are persistent absentees (i) overall and (ii) in year (A) nine, (B) 10 and (C) 11. [262478]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The requested information is shown in the table.
| Primary, secondary and special schools( 1,)( )( 2,)( )( 3) : Number of schools by percentage of persistent absentees( 4) , 2007/08 | ||||
| Number of schools | ||||
| Percentage of persistent absentees( 5) | Overall | Year 9 | Year 10 | Year 11 |
| (1) Includes maintained secondary, city technology colleges and academies (including all-through academies). (2) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (3) Includes schools with at least one enrolment aged between five and 15. (4) Persistent absentees are defined as having more than 63 sessions of absence (authorised and unauthorised) during the year, typically over 20 per cent. overall absence rate. (5) Number of persistent absentees as a percentage of total enrolments. Source: School Census | ||||
The information is a variation of table 4.4 in SFR03/2009, which was reissued with revised row delimiters on 21 April 2009. However, the above information is taken from a dataset which contains a minor amendment and is now being used for all pupil absence analysis.
Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce the rate of truancy. [273090]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department's strategy on school attendance aims to reduce all forms of absence, not merely absence which schools do not authorise (which includes truancy). Our particular focus is on individual pupils who are persistent absentees, who miss 20 per cent. or more of their schooling, whether with permission or not.
This year the Department is working closely through the National Strategies with 42 local authorities with high levels of persistent absence. The National Strategies are providing intensive support and challenge to minimise absence, particularly in 360 secondary schools in those authorities with high persistent absence. A further 102 local authorities with lower rates of persistent absence are receiving support to reduce persistent absence in 795 secondary schools with high levels of persistent absence.
Our work on reducing absence, and persistent absence, has been successful. Overall absence rates in 2007-08 were 6.29 per cent., down from 7.41 per cent. in 1996-97, equivalent to some 70,000 more pupils in school every day.
The total number of persistent absentees in 2007-08 was 233,000, down from 273,000 in 2006-07, a reduction of 14.5 per cent.
Truancy: Tamworth
Mr. Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many days of unauthorised absence were recorded in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Tamworth constituency in each of the last five years. [274134]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Information is not available in the form requested. The available information on the number of days of unauthorised absence in Staffordshire local authority for the last five years is shown in the table. To provide pupil absence data at constituency level would incur disproportionate cost.
Absence data is normally reported in terms of sessions. There are two sessions per day.
| Primary and secondary schools( 1,)( )( 2) , number of days of unauthorised absence 2003/04 to 2007/08, Staffordshire local authority | ||
| Primary( 1) | Secondary( 1,)( )( 2) | |
| (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes city technology colleges and academies. (3) Figures in italics have been sourced from the Absence in Schools Survey. Other figures are derived from School Census returns. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Absence in School Survey and School Census(3) | ||
Duchy of Lancaster
10 Downing Street: Security
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether (a) Mr. Derek Draper and (b) Mr. Charlie Whelan has a security pass for 10 Downing Street. [274985]
Kevin Brennan: I refer the hon. Member to the answer the Prime Minister gave to the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Fulham (Mr. Hands) on 6 May 2009, Official Report, column 182W.
12 Downing Street
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what the cost to the public purse was of establishing the new open plan office in 12 Downing Street. [272016]
Kevin Brennan: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to his question on 11 November 2008, Official Report, column 1131W.
Business: Government Assistance
Mr. Maude: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what budget the Cabinet Office has set for the “real help now” website for 2009-10. [269896]
Mr. Byrne: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Welwyn Hatfield (Grant Shapps) on 20 April 2009, Official Report, column 355W.
Childbirth: Migration
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009, Official Report, columns 956-7W, on child birth, what forecast he has made of the number of births there would be if (a) net migration were six per cent. lower than the principal projection, (b) migration equalled emigration and (c) net migration were 60,000 in each year to 2031. [276294]
Kevin Brennan: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated May 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question, pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2009 (Official Report, columns 956-7W) on child birth, regarding what forecast the Office for National Statistics has made of the number of births there would be if (a) net migration were six per cent lower than the principal projection (b) migration equalled emigration and (c) if net migration was 60,000 in each of the years to 2031 [276294].
Migration assumptions for national population projections are conventionally expressed in terms of net migration (immigration less emigration). The 2006-based principal (or central) projection assumed a long-term annual net inflow to the UK of +190,000 persons a year. The attached table shows the projected number of births in the UK for each year from mid-2008 to mid-2031 according to this 2006-based principal national population projection which is included for the sake of completeness.
The 2006-based ‘zero migration’ variant projection makes the same assumptions about future fertility and mortality as the principal projection, but assumes that immigration will equal emigration, and thus net migration will be zero, at all ages from mid-2006 to the end of the projection period. The projected numbers of births in the UK for each year from mid-2008 to mid-2031 according to this variant projection are also shown in the table.
To fully answer your question, further population projections have been produced by reducing the nominal immigration totals applied in the 2006-based principal projection, but leaving the
fertility, mortality and emigration assumptions unchanged. It should be noted that, in practice, this may not be a realistic scenario: if immigration fell permanently to levels well below those experienced in recent years, it is likely that this would, in time, lead to a reduction in the level of emigration as well.
| Projected number of births, United Kingdom, 2008 to 2031 | ||||
| 2006-based population projections (thousands) | ||||
| Published projections | Special variant projections( 1) | |||
| Year to | Principal | Zero migration variant | Net migration 6 per cent. lower than principal | Net migration 60,000 a year |
| (1 )Additional population projections produced using reduced immigration assumptions compared to the principal projection. | ||||
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