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17 Mar 2010 : Column 905W—continued
Children in Care: Missing Persons
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children have gone missing from local authority care in each local authority in each of the last five years. [320758]
Dawn Primarolo: The information has been placed in the House Libraries.
Children: Carers
Lembit Öpik:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what his Department's latest estimate is of the number of children unable to
attend full-time education because they care for others in their family; and if he will make a statement. [320838]
Dawn Primarolo: These data are not held centrally.
Supporting young carers and their families is a priority for this Government. Young carers, like all children and young people, are entitled to enjoy their childhood and should not have to take on levels of caring that may be harmful to their education or health. Where young carers and their families need additional support this should be provided.
Children: Databases
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether ContactPoint uses (a) unique pupil numbers and (b) unique learner numbers to identify children. [319611]
Dawn Primarolo: A unique identity number is used to identify each child record on ContactPoint. This number is generated by ContactPoint and is only used for the purposes of identifying a record on ContactPoint.
Unique pupil numbers and unique learner numbers are not held as part of every ContactPoint record. It is possible however, for either of these numbers to be sent to ContactPoint with new information supplied by a data source as their chosen reference number. This can be any number used by the data source to identify a record on their system and is used to help match new information to an existing record on ContactPoint. For example all information supplied to ContactPoint by the National Pupil Database has the unique pupil number included as the source system's reference number.
Children: Human Trafficking
Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what steps his Department is taking to introduce a system of guardianship for child victims of trafficking. [320760]
Dawn Primarolo: The issue of guardianship for unaccompanied minors, some of whom may be victims of trafficking, was given careful consideration in the last session of Parliament during the debates on the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.
Unaccompanied, potentially trafficked children will usually enter local authority care and their needs and interests are best protected by the professionals involved in their care working well together and fulfilling their statutory responsibilities to the high standards required. These professionals will include the child's social worker and carers, as well as staff responsible for supporting them to make their claim for asylum in the UK. Each child must also be allocated an Independent Reviewing Officer (IRO) who is responsible for chairing regular reviews of their care plans. IROs must make sure that the child understands the plan for their care and is able to take an active part in making this plan. The IRO will need to make a relationship with each child to help them understand the full range of their rights and entitlements, including their right to access independent advocacy support.
The addition of a "guardian" to this framework risks adding further complexity and possible duplication to existing arrangements which involve a significant number of professional and concerned individuals. This could be confusing for children themselves and we need to ensure plans for their care and for processing their claims for asylum are effectively co-ordinated.
Free School Meals
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals at the age of 15 progressed to a sixth form college in the most recent year for which figures are available. [318471]
Mr. Coaker: According to estimates from the DCSF matched administrative dataset around 9 per cent. of young people (or 7,000 out of 77,000) who had been in receipt of free school meals age 15 in 2006/07 were in full-time education in sixth form colleges in England in 2007/08. In addition another 37 per cent. were studying in FE colleges and 22 per cent. in schools sixth forms making a total of 68 per cent. in full-time education. This compares with a rate of 60 per cent. in full-time education in 2004/05 for the cohort who had been in receipt of free school meals age 15 in 2003/04.
Further Education
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will take steps to provide the same funding to further education students on the same course at a college and a school sixth form. [321864]
Mr. Iain Wright: Funding for students in colleges and school sixth forms has increased 72 per cent. in seven years. We have delivered our commitment to close the funding gap for like for like learning between schools and colleges by 8 percentage points by the end of the 2008/09 academic year, and we are committed to closing it further as funding allows. Our policy priority is to fund the September Guarantee to ensure every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one has a suitable place in education and training.
Miss McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether he plans to take steps to ensure that funding allocations to further education students on the same course at a college and in school sixth form are made at the same level. [322249]
Mr. Iain Wright: Funding for students in colleges and school sixth forms has increased 72 per cent. in seven years. We have delivered our commitment to close the funding gap for like for like learning between schools and colleges by 8 percentage points by the end of the 2008/09 academic year, and we are committed to closing it further as funding allows. Our priority is to fund the September Guarantee to ensure every 16 and 17-year-old who wants one has a suitable place in education and training.
Funding allocations for 2010/11 are currently being finalised and have been made on the same funding rate basis as the 2009/10 allocations. This was in order to
fully fund the September Guarantee in increasing 16 to 18 participation to a record 1.6 million learner places, and to meet the Department's 2010-11 efficiency savings commitment.
GCSE
Mr. Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families whether he has made an assessment of the merits of adapting GCSE courses and assessments to take account of the requirements of students. [321288]
Mr. Iain Wright: It is for Ofqual as the independent regulator of qualifications to set criteria for the development by awarding bodies of GCSE assessments to a common standard. Working to those criteria awarding bodies can seek to adapt their exam specifications to meet the needs of different learners to whom they offer exams. It is for Ofqual to regulate the resulting qualifications.
Section 129 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 sets out the general duties of Ofqual. It requires Ofqual to have regard to the reasonable requirements of those who are seeking to obtain or who might reasonably be expected to seek to obtain regulated qualifications, including those with learning difficulties But it also makes it clear that speaking a different language to that from the language of the teaching or assessment does not itself constitute a learning difficulty.
GCSE: Leeds
John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) what percentage of year 11 pupils at state schools in Leeds city area achieved five or more A* to C GCSEs in each year since 1992; [306596]
(2) what percentage of year 11 pupils at state schools in Leeds West constituency achieved five or more grade A* to C GCSEs in each year since 1992. [306598]
Mr. Coaker: The requested figures are provided in the following table for all maintained schools including academies and City Technology Colleges. Figures before 1997 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
| Percentage of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 achieving 5+ A*-C GCSEs or equivalent( 1) | ||
| Year( 2) | Leeds West constituency (school location based) | Leeds local authority |
| (1) From 1997/98 includes GNVQ equivalences and from 2003/04 includes other equivalents approved for use pre-16. (2) Percentages are based on pupils aged 15 from 1997 to 2004. From 2005 onwards, percentages are based on pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. (3) Figures for 2009 are based on revised data while earlier years are final figures. | ||
Hotels
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many separate bookings for stays at five star or above hotels were made through the Expotel contract by his Department in the last 12 months; and at what cost. [315254]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: Hotel bookings for stays at five star or above hotels made by the Department for Children, Schools and Families using Expotel for the period 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2009 is:
One booking at cost of £100.75.
Data have been provided by Expotel.
Mass Media: GCSE
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils (a) eligible and (b) not eligible for free school meals sat GCSE media studies in 2009. [315524]
Mr. Coaker: In 2009, 60,047 pupils at the end of key stage 4 were entered for GCSE examinations in media, film and television studies. Of these 7,314 pupils were known to be eligible for free school meals, 52,715 were not eligible for free school meals and there were 18 pupils for whom free school meal eligibility could not be determined.
These figures relate to pupils in maintained schools only, including CTCs and academies. Information collected on free school meals forms part of the School Census which is only carried out in maintained schools. This free school meal information is then linked to attainment data. It relates to those pupils known to be eligible to receive free meals rather than those in receipt of free meals.
National Curriculum Tests
Mrs. Maria Miller: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of children in the 10 per cent. (a) most and (b) least deprived areas of the country achieved at least level (a) 2, (b) 2b and (c) 3 in each subject at Key Stage 1 in each year since such assessments were introduced. [317743]
Mr. Coaker: The requested information is given in the following tables for 2004 and 2009. Figures for all years can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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