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29 Oct 2009 : Column 604W—continued
Pupils: Special Educational Needs
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils with special educational needs there were in each year since 1997. [296258]
Mr. Coaker: The information requested on pupils with special educational needs is published annually by my Department.
Figures for 2005 to 2009 were published in the Statistical First Release "Special Educational Needs in England: January 2009", which can be accessed at (tables 1a and 1b):
Figures for 2003 and 2004 were published in the Statistical First Release "Special Educational Needs in England: January 2007", which can be accessed at (tables 1a and 1b):
Figures for 1997 to 2002 were published in the Statistical Bulletin "Special Educational Needs in England: January 2002", which can be accessed at (tables 1a and 1b):
Schools: Admissions
Mr. Randall: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what account he has taken of the most recent population projections provided by the Office of National Statistics in assessing the adequacy of provision of school places at reception and year 1 in (a) the academic year beginning September 2009 and (b) each of the next 10 years. [296128]
Mr. Coaker: Central Government funding to support local provision of school places is decided some time in advance, partly because of the time needed for the building of new capacity and partly to respond to local authorities' longstanding plea for a degree of funding certainty. So the central Government decisions on allocating capital funding for school places in 2009, 2010 and 2011 were made some time ago, using pupil number forecasts provided to my Department from local authorities.
Over the last few months, it has become clear that in some localities the rise in child population has been steeper than had been allowed for. So on 15 July, we announced an allocation of £200 million for authorities which are experiencing and forecasting exceptionally high rates of growth in demand for reception places to 2011, to support the provision of permanent places where there is greatest need. DCSF is currently appraising applications and aims to make an announcement shortly.
We are about to begin work with authorities on the design of our future approach to deploying capital support to local authorities. That work will draw on the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) projections.
Schools: Derbyshire
Natascha Engel:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much has been spent on (a) primary and (b) secondary school
refurbishment in (i) Derbyshire and (ii) North East Derbyshire constituency since 1997. [296066]
Mr. Coaker: Capital allocations are made on a local authority basis, and are then prioritised locally. Similarly, local authorities determine the relative spend on primary and secondary schools. Accordingly, there is no central record of spend for North East Derbyshire, or of the split between primary and secondary schools.
School capital allocations to Derbyshire for school improvement, during the 14 year period 1996-97 to 2009-10, total £633 million. The local authority will also have spent revenue funding on those elements of refurbishment that are of a revenue nature. The total referred to above includes an allocation of nearly £115 million for the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Schools: Finance
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of his Department's budget was allocated directly by his Department and not devolved to schools or local authorities in 2008-09; and if he will make a statement. [293399]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The proportion of our budget allocated directly by the Department and not devolved to schools or local authorities in 2008-09 is set out in the following table.
| Percentage | |
Schools: Hearing Impaired Pupils
Lynne Featherstone: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the level of compliance of schools with the acoustic requirements of deaf and hard of hearing pupils in classrooms; and if he will make a statement. [295669]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: We are working closely with the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) who have collated information from local authorities on acoustic conditions in classrooms, to help ensure that the needs of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are met.
As a result of this work, acoustics testing will now be made a contractual requirement for all Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects in England. This means
that no funding will be signed off for a BSF project without a commitment to having the £6,000 acoustic test. More information on our proposals can be found in the written ministerial statement of 16 October 2009, Official Report, columns 51-52WS on auditory standards for school buildings, laid by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families:
The Department does not assess schools' level of compliance with acoustic requirements of deaf and hard of hearing pupils centrally.
Schools: Inspections
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will place in the Library a copy of the 2005 Ofsted Framework for Inspecting Maintained Schools in England. [295566]
Mr. Coaker: A copy of the July 2005 version of the "Framework for the inspection of schools in England from September 2005" has been placed in the Libraries.
Schools: Mental Health
Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what strategies his Department has considered to raise awareness of mental health issues in schools. [296490]
Dawn Primarolo: As the key universal service for children, schools play an important role in the promotion of better emotional health and resilience and early intervention where mental health problems may arise. There are a number of programmes in schools that increase awareness of mental health issues for children and young people. These include the Healthy Schools Programme and Targeted Mental Health in Schools.
The Healthy Schools Programme requires schools to have policies and practices in place to support emotional health and wellbeing, including identifying children at risk of experiencing behavioural, emotional or social difficulties. Currently 99 per cent. of schools in England are working towards or have achieved Healthy School status.
The Targeted Mental Health in Schools (TaMHS) programme is developing models of mental health support in schools for those children, young people and their families who need it most. The project includes training for school staff to equip them with the knowledge and ability to identify problems early, to work with and support children and young people at risk of experiencing mental health problems and to refer them to appropriate mental health professionals, as necessary. It also provides mental health awareness and promotion for children, young people and families. Funded by £60 million between 2008 and 2011, the programme is currently operating in 80 local authorities. From September 2010 TaMHS will be operating in clusters of schools in all areas.
There are other school based programmes that also promote better emotional wellbeing. Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) is a comprehensive voluntary programme to develop the social and emotional skills of all pupils, while the new personal wellbeing programme of study within Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education includes a specific focus on issues relating to emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Schools: Standards
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what proportion of (a) all schools and (b) Catholic schools Ofsted rated as excellent or very good against its respect for others measure on the latest date for which figures are available. [293956]
Mr. Coaker: This is a matter for Ofsted. HM chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to my right hon. Friend and a copy of her reply has been placed in the Libraries.
Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 23 October 2009:
Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for response.
Ofsted does not have a judgement which relates directly to 'respect for others'. The inspection judgement that most closely approximates to 'respect for others' is 'The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development'. In forming the judgement, inspectors take account of:
Learners' response to spiritual and moral issues, such as their attitudes to bullying, and their effective discussion in lessons
the quality of learners' social development as expressed through their relationships with their peers and with adults
learners' understanding of Britain as a diverse society and their readiness to engage with others from a different cultural background
the extent to which they embrace the shared values of the community and contribute to its cohesiveness.
Under the school inspection frameworks used between January 2000 and August 2005 (commonly known as section 10), the school's overall effectiveness judgement was made using a seven point scale: excellent, very good, good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory, poor and very poor. From September 2005 to September 2009, the overall effectiveness judgement was made under the school inspection framework commonly known as Section 5, using a four point scale: outstanding, good, satisfactory and inadequate. It is not possible to operate a simple read-across approach from 2000 to the present, using these different systems.
The latest period for which published figures are available is the spring term 2008/09. This answer, therefore, takes into account all inspections carried out prior to 3 April 2009. At that time, there were still some schools that had not yet been inspected under the section 5 framework.
For the purposes of answering this question, excellent or very good are interpreted as being analogous to outstanding as defined under the Section 5 inspection framework.
Of all the schools open on 4 April 2009 and having received an Ofsted inspection, 35% were judged as outstanding under section 5, or as excellent or very good under section 10, at their last inspection in respect of 'the extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development'.
Of all Roman Catholic schools open on 4 April 2009 and having received an Ofsted inspection, 51% were judged as outstanding under section 5, or as excellent or very good under section 10, at their last inspection in respect of 'the extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development'.
A copy of this reply has been sent to Vernon Coaker MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and placed in the library of both Houses.
Schools: Uniforms
Ms Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families which local authorities offer grants to parents to purchase uniforms; and which local authorities offered such grants in 1997. [296135]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Local authorities have a discretionary power to provide school clothing grants or to help with the cost of school clothing in cases of financial hardship. Local authorities that choose to offer such grants set their own criteria for eligibility.
The Department does not collect data on which local authorities provide school clothing grants.
Science: Teachers
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what percentage of science teachers specialised in (a) physics, (b) chemistry and (c) biology in the latest year for which figures are available. [288351]
Mr. Coaker: The specialisms of science teachers in maintained secondary schools in England were collected as part of the Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey. This is an occasional survey that does not provide a full time series.
The following table gives data from the 2007 survey, the most recent survey available, for full-time equivalent teachers. It shows the percentage of science teachers who had a specialism in each science specialism(1) and the percentages of occurrences for each specialism:
(1) In this case, a specialism is any post A-level qualification (including degrees, BEds, PGCEs, Certificates in Education and other post A-level qualifications) in one of Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Other Science.
| Science teachers' science specialisms, England, 2007 | ||
| Percentage of teachers | Percentage of specialisms | |
| Note: Base: 35,720 teachers and 44,022 cases of specialism Source: Secondary School Curriculum and Staffing Survey, 2007 | ||
Some teachers had a qualification that covered more than one science subject, so the teacher figures sum to more than 100 per cent. Teachers were only double counted if they held qualifications in more than one of the Biology, Chemistry and Physics specialisms, otherwise they were only included in one category. A teacher with more than one qualification in the same subject was counted only once against that specialism.
The second set of figures shows the percentage of specialisms. Where qualifications covered more than one science subject, equal weight was given to each subject when recalculating to sum to 100 per cent.. The analysis did not take into account how many periods were taught by a teacher, so the specialism of a teacher who taught one period of science was given an equal weight to a teacher who taught 20 periods of science.
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