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23 Feb 2010 : Column 521W—continued
35 per cent. took exactly 26 weeks maternity leave;
46 per cent. of mothers took between 27 and 52 weeks and 3 per cent. were off for more than 52 weeks;
16 per cent. of mothers took less than the statutory minimum entitlement (i.e. 26 weeks in 2006).
The next Maternity Rights survey will be based on mothers who took maternity leave starting in summer 2008. It is due to report later in 2010.
Unemployment: Bedfordshire
Nadine Dorries: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people under 25 years old were not in employment, education or training in Mid Bedfordshire constituency in (a) 1997, (b) 2007 and (c) 2008-09. [318039]
Kevin Brennan: Due to small sample sizes, we are unable to provide estimates of the number of young people not in employment, education or training for parliamentary constituency areas.
The Annual Population survey can provide estimates for local education authorities. The latest Annual Population Survey data available are for 2008. Estimates of people not in employment, education or training are not available prior to 2000 due to data in earlier years being incomplete.
The number of young people not in employment, education or training in England is published by DCSF every quarter. The latest information can be found here:
Unemployment: Salford
Hazel Blears: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people aged between 18 and 24 years old and not in employment, education or training there were in Salford constituency in (a) 1997 and (b) 2009. [317736]
Kevin Brennan: Due to small sample sizes, we are unable to provide estimates of the number of people not in employment, education or training for parliamentary constituency areas.
The Annual Population survey can provide estimates for local education authorities, but not for age groups narrower than 16-24. The latest Annual Population Survey data available are for 2008. Estimates of people not in employment, education or training are not available prior to 2000 due to data in earlier years being incomplete.
The number of young people not in employment, education or training in England is published by DCSF every quarter. The latest information can be found at:
Vocational Training: Tax Allowances
Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will discuss with the Chancellor of the Exchequer the provision of tax (a) discounts or (b) credits for those required to pay for their own training. [316639]
Kevin Brennan: It is important that we target investment in education and training as efficiently and effectively as possible. Targeting through the tax system may result in supporting learning that would have taken place in any event.
We believe providing entitlements for every adult to receive training towards a first full level 2 qualification and for young people (up to age 25) to receive training for a first full level 3 qualification is a more efficient way of supporting individuals that otherwise would not have engaged in training. Evidence shows that this training is often more effective when delivered in the work place. This is why we have developed our flagship Train to Gain programme, which, since its inception in 2006 has helped people to start 1.54 million qualifications.
It is also why we are expanding the apprenticeship system to build a new technician class for the higher level jobs of the future, almost doubling the number of advanced and higher apprenticeships places for 19 to 30-year-olds.
Working Hours: Salford
Hazel Blears: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many of those resident in Salford constituency have received a reduction in their working hours since the introduction of a maximum length of working week of 48 hours. [317734]
Mr. McFadden: The Working Time Regulations provide workers with the right to refuse to work more than 48 hours on average, if they do not want to. It is not possible to estimate how many residents have received a reduction in their working hours as a result of the introduction of a maximum length of the working week to 48 hours either at the national level or in Salford constituency.
Young People: Unemployment
Norman Baker: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of people in (a) Lewes constituency and (b) England aged (i) between 16 and 18 and (ii) between 19 and 24 years old were not in education, employment or training in each year since 1997. [315767]
Mr. Iain Wright: I have been asked to reply.
Estimates of the number and proportion of young people aged 16-18 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) are published annually in the statistical first release (SFR) "Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 year olds in England". This publication contains the Department's best estimate of the NEET rate and is the official measure used to measure progress against out target to reduce the proportion of young people NEET by 2 percentage points by the end of 2010. The most recent SFR can be accessed via the Department's website here:
A time series going back to 1985 is available under "Additional Information".
A comparable measure of NEET for 19-24 year olds is not available. However, the Department publishes "NEET Statistics-Quarterly Brief" which contains an alternative measure of NEET covering 16-24 year olds. The next issue is due for publication on 25 February, 2010 and will be available via this link:
Estimates of the proportion of young people NEET are not available at parliamentary constituency level. The smallest geographical area for which estimates are available is local authority. These local estimates are derived from data collected by Connexions services and are published on the DCSF 14-19 website and are only available for 16-18 year olds:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/index.cfm?go=site.home&;sid=42&pid=343&lid=337&ctype=Text&ptype=Single
Connexions local estimates are not directly comparable with the national estimates in the SFR. Figures for West Sussex since 2006, the earliest available, are shown in the following table.
| Percentage of 16-18 year olds NEET in West Sussex | |
There are no comparable or robust estimates of the proportion of 19-24 year olds NEET available for local authorities.
Children, Schools and Families
Academies
Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent representations he has received from the Charity Commission on the method of achieving charitable status for educational academies and colleges; and what steps he plans to take in response to those representations. [310572]
Mr. Coaker: The Department held discussions with the Charity Commission on the way in which academies are registered as charities. As a result of those discussions, I tabled an amendment at Committee stage to remove a clause in the Children, Schools and Families Bill, which would have made changes to those arrangements. A copy of a letter from the chief executive of the Charity Commission and the Permanent Secretary's advice to the Secretary of State has been placed in the Library.
Blaydon
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will set out, with statistical information related as directly as possible to Blaydon constituency, the effects on Blaydon of the policies and actions of his Department and its predecessors since 2000. [315305]
Mr. Coaker: Since 2000 the Government have transformed education and child care with improved outcomes for children and young people. Figures showing the performance at key stage 2 and at GCSE and equivalents in Blaydon are given in the following tables.
| GCSE and equivalents( 1) results for pupils( 2) attending schools( 3) in Blaydon constituency | |||
| Percentage of pupils gaining | 2000 | 2009( 4) | Percentage point improvement 2000-09 |
| (1) From 2004 results incorporate GCSEs, GNVQs and a range of other qualifications approved pre-16. Prior to 2004, results are based on GCSEs and GNVQs only. (2) From 2006 figures are for pupils at the end of key stage 4. Prior to 2006, results are based on pupils aged 15. (3) Local averages include pupils attending all maintained schools (including academies and city technology colleges) and from 2000 do not include pupils recently arrived from overseas. (4) Revised data. (5) England averages also include independent schools as well as hospital schools and PRUs. | |||
Further information by constituency is provided within the Department's 'In Your Area' website available at:
Information available at constituency level includes the number of specialist schools, number of operational academies, number of teaching assistants and other support staff, number of teachers and pupil: teacher ratios. Where information is not available at constituency level it has been provided at local authority level including the number of free early education places taken up by three and four-year-olds, number of full-time and part-time entrants to higher education institutions aged 18 to 20, average A-level point score per candidate and per entry together with percentage of people of working age qualified to at least level 2 and percentage of people of working age qualified to level 4 and above.
Additional information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Children: Day Care
Alan Keen: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many (a) free nursery and (b) pre-school places were available for (i) three and (ii) four year olds in Feltham and Heston constituency in each year since 1997. [316683]
Dawn Primarolo: The following table shows the number of part-time equivalent places filled by three and four year olds in Feltham and Heston constituency from 2004 to 2009.
The Department publishes information on the part-time equivalent number of free early education places filled by three and four-year-olds in maintained, private, voluntary and independent providers. Information on the number of pre-school places is not separately available. Part-time
equivalent places are derived by counting children taking up 12 and a half hours per week as one place, 10 hours per week as 0.8 places, seven and a half hours per week as 0.6 places, five hours per week as 0.4 places and two and a half hours per week as 0.2 places. Data at parliamentary constituency level are not available prior to 2004.
| Part-time equivalent number of free early education places( 1, 2, 3 ) filled by three and four-year-olds( 4) : Parliamentary constituency Feltham and Heston , p osition in January each year | ||
| Three-year-olds | Four-year-olds | |
| (1) A place is equal to 12.5 hours (five sessions) and can be filled by more than one child. (2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 100 if they exceed 1,000 and to the nearest 10 otherwise. (3) Prior to 2004, information on early education places was derived from returns made by local authorities as part of the Nursery Education Grant (NEG) data collection exercise. These data were collected at local authority level, therefore, data for this parliamentary constituency are not available prior to 2004. (4) Age of all children taken at 31 December in the previous calendar year. Source: Early Years Census and School Census | ||
The latest figures on early education places for three and four-year-olds in England were published in Statistical First Release (SFR) 11/2009 "Provision for children under five years of age in England: January 2009", available on my Department's website
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