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3 Mar 2010 : Column 1295W—continued
Mr. Coaker:
The Department commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to conduct reviews of the Teachers International Professional Development (TIPD) programme, and evaluation reports were issued in 2002, 2003 and 2005. A further internal
review of the TIPD programme reported in December 2006. Copies of these reports have been placed in the Library.
In 2009, the Department and the Department for International Development (DFID) commissioned a review of a range of international programmes funded by the two Departments. The review concluded that whilst the TIPD programme provided valuable professional development opportunities, efficiencies and improved outcomes could be achieved through streamlining the design and delivery of programmes. A formal public consultation on recommendations flowing from this review is planned for the near future.
Home Education
Mr. David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of school attendance orders in supporting families with home-educated children. [318521]
Mr. Coaker: It is the parents' duty to ensure that their child receives a suitable full-time education at school or otherwise (including home elective education).
If a local authority has concerns that a child is not receiving a suitable, full-time education it has the power to take steps under the school attendance order framework, including serving a school attendance order on the child's parents instructing them to register their child at a named school. Failure to comply with an order is an offence. Local authorities have the responsibility for prosecuting parents if they breach a school attendance order and also have the option of seeking an education supervision order. We believe that this achieves a balance between the rights of parents to educate their children outside the school system, many of whom do a good job, and the rights of the child to a full-time education suitable to their needs and abilities.
Primary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families with reference to the answer of 29 October 2009, Official Report, column 596W, on primary education, how many schools in each (a) region and (b) local authority area there were in each category in each year. [318587]
Ms Diana R. Johnson [holding answer 25 February 2010]: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Number of maintained primary schools with over 800 pupils( 1 ) 1997 and 2009-England | |
| Number of schools | |
| (1) Headcount of sole registered pupils. Source: School Census | |
Pupils: Bullying
David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 10 February 2010, Official Report, column 1093W, on pupils: bullying, what steps his Department has taken to tackle bullying in schools in the last 12 months. [318384]
Mr. Coaker: Over the last 12 months, we have continued to roll out a comprehensive programme of work to prevent and tackle bullying. This includes working through the Anti-Bullying Alliance and the National Strategies to help schools deal with bullying effectively and providing challenge and support, where necessary, to improve anti-bullying strategies.
It also includes funding for peer mentoring of pupils and a helpline for parents. We have strengthened further our anti-bullying guidance. In April 2009 we published new guidance on preventing and tackling the cyberbullying of school staff. In September we produced a DVD resource pack for schools on bullying related to special educational needs or disabilities. In December 2009 we issued new guidance for schools on preventing and responding to sexist, sexual and transphobic bullying. In February this year we produced, in collaboration with Stonewall, a DVD resource pack on tackling homophobic bullying.
In November 2009 the Anti-Bullying Alliance delivered our annual anti-bullying week for which the theme was cyberbullying. During that week we launched a short
web-based leaflet for parents on bullying from a young person's perspective and re-ran our cyberbullying campaign, 'laugh at it and you're part of it'. In December, 2009 we published a consultation document on the new duty on schools (due to come into force this September) to record and report all serious and persistent incidents of bullying.
Schools: Anti-Semitism
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department (a) has taken recently and (b) plans to take to reduce levels of anti-Semitism in schools; what recent discussions Ministers and officials in his Department have had on this issue; what recent representations he has received on this issue; and if he will make a statement. [318693]
Mr. Coaker: I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to him on 9 July 2009, Official Report, columns 1001-1002W. Further to that, the Department is currently consulting on a new statutory duty on schools to record and report to the local authority all incidents of bullying between pupils including racist bullying. The consultation will end on 4 March 2010 and plans are for the new duty to come into effect in September 2010. We have also provided additional funding to the School Linking Network to promote inter-faith linking by supporting faith schools, from both the independent and maintained sectors, to work in partnership to provide opportunities for their pupils to mix and interact, in order to promote community cohesion. My officials regularly attend the Anti-Semitism Working Group along with officials from other Government Departments and stakeholders from across the Jewish communities to monitor progress and discuss issues in relation to tackling anti-Semitism.
Schools: Flooding
Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families for how many days schools in each region were closed owing to flooding in each of the last five years. [318660]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Schools and local authorities are under no duty to report closures to my Department, so the Department does not maintain any regular records of closures. We do have information on the floods in mid 2007, and that information is shown in the following table. The figures include closures due to storm damage as well as flooding. Most schools closed for one to two days only, but we do not have a record of how many days each school was closed.
The only significant flood disruption to schools in 2009 was in Cumbria in November, when we understand that most schools closed for at least one day, but we have no record of the number of schools.
Schools: Police
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on how many occasions police were called to schools in (a) 1997, (b) 2005 and (c) the latest year for which figures are available; and for what reason in each such case. [317821]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Data on the number of occasions police are called to schools are not collected at a national level.
Schools: Transport
Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much and what proportion of the Walking to School initiative's budget was spent in the latest year for which figures are available. [316168]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The last year for which figures are available is 2009-10 during which we have spent £19.95 million, which represents 95.4 per cent. of the available budget. Of this, £14.11 million was allocated as grants to schools and they have three years in which to spend the funding. The remaining £5.84 million expenditure represents salary costs for approximately 250 school travel advisers and seven regional school travel advisers.
Specialist Schools
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families by what mechanisms a school may apply for specialist school status in relation to catering and hospitality education. [319343]
Mr. Coaker:
Schools can specialise in a range of curriculum based subjects but it is not possible for a school to specialise in catering and hospitality within the specialist schools programme. Academies have access
to a greater range of specialisms which must be rigorous and linked to an academic subject. It would therefore be possible for an Academy to offer a specialism in catering and hospitality if this was linked to an academic subject.
Sports: Primary Education
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils (a) overall, (b) in years 10 and 11, (c) at primary school received the recommended number of hours of sport each week in the latest period for which figures are available. [315691]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The 2008/09 PE and Sport survey showed that 50 per cent. of school pupils were taking part in at least three hours of high quality PE and sport per week as part of the five hour offer for children and young people. For Years 10 and 11 the figures were 42 per cent. and 37 per cent. respectively. For primary pupils the figure was 57 per cent. We are working with the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, and through them with School Sport Partnerships and County Sport Partnerships, to ensure that plans are in place to deliver a five hour offer which is taken up by every young person who wants it. At present we judge this to be the case in 92 per cent. of SSPs. As part of this we believe every young person should have access to regular competitive sport; coaching to improve their skills and enjoyment; a choice of different sports; pathways to club and elite sport; and opportunities to lead and volunteer in sport. We are also developing new ways of communicating the offer so that more young people take it up.
Truancy: Prosecutions
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many cases associated with parents not ensuring their child attended school have been heard in court since 1997. [318229]
Mr. Coaker: Information from the Ministry of Justice court proceedings database on the number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts for offences relating to failing to attend school in England, 2001 to 2008 can be viewed in the attached table. Prior to 2001 these offences cannot be separately identified.
These data are a further breakdown of those published in the Criminal Statistics, Supplementary Volumes for England and Wales for the years 2001-08.
| The number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates' courts at all courts for offences relating to 'failing to attend school( 1,2) | ||||||||
| 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| (1) Includes the following: (i) Failure to secure regular attendance at school. (Education Act 1996 S.444 (1)(8)). (ii) Parent knows that their child is failing to attend school regularly and fails without reasonable justification to cause him or her to attend school. (Education Act 1996 S.444(8)(1a)(8a) added by Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 S.72). (2) Prior to 2001 these offences cannot be separately identified. Notes: 1. The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. | ||||||||
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