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14 July 2009 : Column 294W—continued
Class Sizes: York
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average pupil to teacher ratio in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in York was in each year since 1996-97. [285703]
Mr. Coaker: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 26 November 2008, Official Report, column 1837W.
Local authority figures are not yet available for 2009, but will be published later this summer.
Connexions
Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of services provided through Connexions. [285424]
Mr. Iain Wright: Since April 2008 local authorities have been responsible for providing Connexions services. Under the Education and Skills Act 2008 they have a statutory duty to deliver Connexions, which places services within scope of the Comprehensive Area Assessment. Connexions services contribute to targets in local area agreements. We expect local authorities to assess the quality of their information, advice and guidance (IAG) provision, including that commissioned from Connexions services, against national IAG Quality Standards.
Departmental Internet
Mr. Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families when his Department plans to update its web browsers from Internet Explorer 6. [285021]
Mr. Coaker: The Department for Children, Schools and Families currently operates Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 6.0 Service Pack 2. The proposed DCSF Information Strategy (incorporating Systems and Technology) plans are to update the browser during 2010/11 financial year.
Pupils
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many maintained schools have fewer than (a) 40, (b) 50, (c) 60, (d) 70, (e) 80, (f) 90 and (g) 100 pupils; and if he will make a statement. [281305]
Mr. Coaker: Local authorities are responsible for planning the pattern of school provision most appropriate to their area. They have to ensure that there are sufficient school places, the needs of the local community are served and good quality education is provided in a cost effective way. Virtually all small primary schools serve rural communities.
The requested information is shown in the table.
| Maintained nursery, primary, state-funded secondary and maintained special schools, size of school, as at January 2009 (provisional), England | ||||||||
| All schools | Schools with fewer than 40 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 50 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 60 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 70 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 80 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 90 pupils( 1) | Schools with fewer than 100 pupils( 1) | |
| (1) Includes solely registered pupils. (2 )Includes middle schools as deemed. (3 )Includes CTCs and Academies. (4 )Includes General Hospital Schools. Source: School Census. | ||||||||
Pupils: Radiation Exposure
Mr. Andrew Mitchell: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effects on schoolchildren of potential radiation emissions from wireless local area networks in schools; and if he will direct local education authorities to adopt a precautionary approach to the approval of the (a) installation and (b) operation of wireless local area networks in schools. [285238]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The Health Protection Agency (HPA) is the authoritative body on health issues relating to wireless technology. The HPA has consistently and clearly advised schools and local authorities that it does not consider there to be any problem with the safety of WiFi. Its current guidelines state there is no scientific evidence of any health risks from WiFi or that exposures exceed international guidelines and there is absolutely no reason schools should stop using them.
The HPA announced further research into the use of WiFi in October 2007, details at:
http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&;HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1195733726123?p=1171991026241
Becta is the Government Agency with responsibility for providing advice to schools and others on various technologies and their use, including their safe use.
Becta follows the HPA's latest guidance in the advice it produces for schools and other education providers. Becta's current guidance on the use of WiFi equipment in schools is that it provides a useful and flexible option to complement rather than replace hard wired systems. This advice will be reviewed and updated accordingly as and when new guidance is published by the HPA. Becta have engaged with the HPA on elements of the research programme and will monitor closely any emerging findings to ensure that children are offered the best education in a safe and secure environment.
Pupils: Travel
Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the number and percentage of children aged 16 years of age and under who (a) walked and (b) cycled to school in each year since 1997. [284809]
Mr. Coaker: Information on pupils' mode of travel to school has been collected only since 2007. The available information is shown in the table.
| Maintained primary( 1) , state-funded secondary( 1, 2) and special schools( 3) : pupils( 4, 5) 16 and under who walked or cycled to school, as at January each year, England | ||||||
| Pupils who walk to school | Pupils who cycle to school | Pupils for whom travel data were supplied( 7) | ||||
| Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | Number | Percentage | |
| (1 )Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes CTCs and academies. (3) Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. (4 )Pupils aged 16 and under as at 31 August in the previous year. (5) Excludes boarders. (6) Expressed as a percentage of those pupils for whom travel data were supplied. (7) The collection of mode of travel to school data are only mandatory at pupil level for schools with an approved school travel plan. (8) Provisional Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: School Census. | ||||||
Schools: Bullying
Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will require schools to record incidents of (a) bullying between pupils and (b) verbal and physical abuse of school staff by pupils. [285726]
Mr. Coaker: Yes. On 26 September 2008, my predecessor Jim Knight and his colleague Kevin Brennan announced the Government's plan to make it compulsory for schools to record incidents of bullying between pupils, and incidents of verbal or physical abuse against school staff. We plan to launch a full consultation on draft regulations in the autumn, and to lay the regulations next year with a view to them coming into force in September 2010.
Schools: Capital Investment
Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what capital funding has been allocated by his Department to schools in the City of York in each year since 2003. [285782]
Mr. Coaker: Capital funding allocated by the Department to the City of York for schools in each year since 2003 is set out in the following table:
| £ million | |
The allocations include £14.2 million for targeted capital funding in 2006-07, £28.5 million for a One School Pathfinder School in 2007-08, and £3.0 million for the new Primary School programme in 2009-10, together with an advance in 2009-10 of funding brought forward from 2010-11.
Schools: Crimes of Violence
Dr. Kumar: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what measures his Department has in place to ensure the protection of children against sexual assault on school premises. [285331]
Dawn Primarolo: Section 175 of the Education Act 2002 requires governing bodies of maintained schools to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are carried out with a view to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. In meeting this duty, schools must have regard to the guidance contained in "Safeguarding Children and Safer Recruitment in Education". This sets out the safeguarding responsibilities of all local authorities and schools, including recruitment best practice, designed to safeguard children from all forms of abuse including sexual abuse. To comply with the guidance, governing bodies of all maintained schools should ensure that:
the school has a child protection policy in place that is in accordance with local authority guidance and locally agreed inter-agency procedures;
the school operates safe recruitment procedures and carries out appropriate checks on staff and volunteers who work with children;
the school operates procedures for dealing with allegations of abuse that comply with guidance from the local authority and locally agreed inter-agency procedures;
a senior member of the school's leadership team is designated to take lead responsibility for dealing with child protection issues, providing advice and support to other staff, liaising with the local authority and working with other agencies;
in addition to basic child protection training the designated person undertakes training in inter-agency working to standards agreed by the local safeguarding children board, and refresher training at two yearly intervals;
all staff who work with children undertake training to equip them to carry out their responsibilities for child protection effectively, and refresher training at three yearly intervals;
temporary staff and volunteers who work with children are made aware of the school's arrangement for child protection and their responsibilities;
they remedy without delay any deficiencies or weaknesses in regard to child protection arrangements that are brought to their attention;
a member of the governing body is nominated to be responsible for liaising with the LA in the event of allegations of abuse being made against the head teacher;
they review their policies and procedures annually and provide information to the local authority about them and about how the above duties have been discharged.
Schools: Finance
Mr. Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether any elements of the Targeted Capital Fund have been subject to a moratorium on spending. [284377]
Mr. Coaker: No elements of the Targeted Capital Fund, where allocations to schools and local authorities have been confirmed, are subject to a moratorium on spending. However, the Standards and Diversity Targeted Capital Fund is currently closed for new applications. We have always been clear that further allocations would depend on the availability of funds, and these have now been committed.
Schools: Manpower
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will place in the Library a copy of the school workforce census form. [286561]
Mr. Coaker: The school workforce census is an electronic data collection from schools and local authorities. The Census is being piloted during 2009 and will go live in 2010. As it is an electronic data collection there is no form as such but a copy of the technical specification for the collection is publicly available on the Department's TeacherNet pages
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