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4 Jun 2009 : Column 646W—continued
Children: Protection
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when he expects Ofsted next to report on lessons from serious case reviews. [274263]
Jim Knight: 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 19 May 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for a response.
Ofsted has started the preparation for its second report on the outcomes of serious case reviews, based on evaluations which
were completed between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009. This is provisionally planned for publication in late August 2009.
In light of Lord Laming's recent recommendations, Ofsted also intends to produce more regular reports, at six-monthly intervals, which summarise the lessons from serious case reviews. We have yet to agree the pattern of dates of these reports.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP, Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families, and will be placed in the library of both Houses.
Climate Change
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what steps his Department has taken to adapt to climate change in the last two years; [277648]
(2) what estimate he has made of his Department's potential gross (a) costs and (b) savings arising from its climate change adaptation measures in the next three years. [277729]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: For the schools estate, some of the steps taken by DCSF and local authorities include:
increasing the flood resilience of schools that have been or could be subject to flooding;
promoting sustainable urban drainage strategies and other sustainable water management practices in new and existing school projects, as identified in the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) report funded by the Department(1);
promoting passive environmental design of new buildings to prevent summertime overheating; and
joint DCSF/HPA guidance for teachers and other professionals on looking after schoolchildren during heatwaves(2).
The Department has not made any estimate of the costs and savings from climate change adaptation measures in schools. However some cost analysis of the possible impacts on buildings was published in a report by the Foundation for the Built Environment published in 2000(3).
The Department’s Estates and Facilities Management Division has earmarked £500,000 and £550,000 for the next two years, to invest in sustainability measures in the Department’s buildings. Assessments will be made of each potential sustainability improvement and we will invest in projects with a three-year payback or better. We are not yet in a position to determine the amount of these monies that will be spent on climate change adaptation measures or the value of the savings associated with them.
(1 )Sustainable water management in schools (W012) available free from
(2 )Guidance for Teachers and other professionals on looking after Schoolchildren during Heatwaves—
http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&;HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1210577610802?p=1204031509010.
and Background Information from HPA and DCSF on looking after Schoolchildren during heatwaves—
http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&;HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1210577610624?p=1204031509010
(3 )Potential implications of climate change in the built environment, Hilary M Graves, Mark C Phillipson, 2000, ISBN 1860814476, available from
Departmental ICT
John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps he has taken to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide emissions arising from the operation of ICT systems in his Department under the Greening Government ICT Strategy. [273553]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I refer my hon. Member to the reply given on 24 April 2009, Official Report, column 898W.
Departmental Training
Mr. Hands: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2009, Official Report, column 1708W, on departmental training, which Ministers attended the (a) induction workshop, (b) action learning set, (c) media training and (d) select committee training courses; and what the total cost of these courses was. [265678]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: Ministers in the Department for Children, Schools and Families who have attended personal training courses are: (a) Induction Workshop: Sarah McCarthy-Fry, (b) Action Learning Set: Delyth Morgan, (c) Media Training: Sarah McCarthy-Fry and Delyth Morgan, (d) Select Committee Training: Sarah McCarthy-Fry.
The total cost of these courses was £4,432.75.
Departmental Work Experience
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many work placements his Department and its predecessors offered to (a) school pupils, (b) university students and (c) graduates in each of the last five years. [274491]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The information is as follows:
| School pupils | University students and graduates | |
| (1) Department for Education and Skills up to 27 June 2007 and Department of Children, Schools and Families from 28 June 2007. | ||
It is not possible to separate figures for university students and graduates.
The Department is currently in the process of planning its own work experience programme for 2009.
Employment Tribunals Service
Grant Shapps: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many actions under employment law have been brought against his Department and its predecessor in each of the last three years; how many such actions were brought under each category of action; and how many such actions were contested by his Department at an employment tribunal. [277417]
Sarah McCarthy-Fry: The Department has defended less than five claims in employment tribunal hearings in each of the financial years 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Department was established on 28 June 2007. Further detail is suppressed on grounds of confidentiality.
Information on the number of claims withdrawn during the process of being defended prior to a full hearing is not held and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Information for the 2006-07 financial year could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Faith Schools: Finance
Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what funding his Department provided to religious bodies as a contribution to their capital expenditure on voluntary-aided schools of a religious character in each year from 1997-98 to 2003-04; what proportion of his Department’s expenditure such expenditure represented in each of those years; and in what instances his Department’s contribution represented (a) up to 90 per cent. and (b) 90 per cent. or more of total project expenditure. [277665]
Jim Knight: The information set out as follows shows the amount of grant payable from 2001-02, the earliest year for which we have the information, to the governing bodies of those voluntary aided (VA) schools with a religious character. This is then shown as a proportion of the total departmental capital programme (including PFI credits) for all schools. Some VA schools will also have received some funding from programmes other than the main VA programmes but as these records are maintained mainly at local authority level we do not keep records of the amounts. The proportions in the table are therefore likely smaller than the actual share.
Although most capital expenditure at voluntary aided schools requires a 10 per cent. contribution from their governing bodies, we do not have information relating to any other contributions made either by governing bodies or from any other source.
| Amount paid up to 90 per cent. (£000) | Amount paid 90-100 per cent. (£000) | Amount as a proportion of the total departmental capital programme (percentage) | |
GCE A-Level
Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average A-level points score per pupil was for secondary schools with sixth forms of (a) 50 or fewer, (b) 51 to 100, (c) 101 to 150, (d) 151 to 200, (e) 201 to 250 and (f) more than 250 pupils in each of the last three years for which figures are available. [273518]
Jim Knight: The information is published in the School and College Achievement and Attainment Tables on the Department’s website at the following link:
A copy of the tables is available in the House Libraries.
GCE A-Level: History
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils who sat A-level history at mainstream maintained schools gained an A to E grade in that subject in each year since 1997. [276845]
Jim Knight: The information requested can be found in the table:
| Number and proportion of pupils who sat A-level history at mainstream maintained schools and who gained an A to E grade in that subject in each year since 1997 | ||
| Number | Percentage | |
| Source: Achievement and Attainment Tables. | ||
The jump in the pass rate in 2002 is partly due to the new unitised A-level exams which saw the first cohort taking AS courses.
GCSE
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils did not gain a single GCSE grade excluding equivalents in 2008. [251122]
Jim Knight: The number of pupils that did not attain at least one full(1) GCSE (excluding all(2) equivalents) in the grade of A*-G is 24,119, which is a proportion of 3.7 per cent. of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in the year, 2008.
(1) Short GCSE courses have been excluded. Full, double and extended double courses have been included.
(2) GNVQ’s have also been excluded.
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of pupils, including those in the cohort but not entered for examination, in (a) comprehensive schools, (b) independent schools, (c) pupil referral units, excluding hospital schools, (d) special schools, (e) grammar schools, (f) academies and city technology colleges and (g) any other type of school attained five GCSEs grades A* to C, including English and mathematics and excluding equivalents in the last year for which figures are available. [266862]
Jim Knight: The requested information is given in the following table:
| Number and proportion of pupils at the end of KS4 that achieved five or more GCSEs( 1) at grade A*-C, including English and maths, by school type in 2008 | ||
| School category | Number of pupils achieving 5+ A*-C including English and maths | Percentage of pupils achieving 5+ A*- C including English and maths |
| (1) Only GCSE and vocational GCSE grades have been considered. (2) Academies and CTCs are a subset of comprehensive schools. (3) Including independent special schools and excluding hospital schools. | ||
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