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25 Mar 2010 : Column 576W—continued
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 available at:
Primary Education
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 11 January 2010, Official Report, columns 726-27W, on primary education, how the information included in the answer was compiled. [311101]
Mr. Coaker: Information included in the answer of 11 January 2010, Official Report, columns 726-27W, was derived from new analysis of pupil attendance data submitted as part of the School Census. Attendance records are returned for each period of time spent in a relevant school in a school year.
Previous questions on this subject have not been answered substantively because an appropriate methodology had not been developed and to do so would have incurred disproportionate cost. However, a methodology based on pupil attendance data has since been developed that can be used to answer this type of question.
Pupil Exclusions: Milton Keynes
Mr. Lancaster:
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many children have been permanently excluded from (a) primary, (b)
middle, (c) upper and (d) secondary schools in Milton Keynes in each year since 1997. [315374]
Ms Diana R. Johnson: The available information requested is shown in the table.
From 2002, the Department has carried out a checking exercise to confirm the overall number of permanent exclusions. However, this only confirms the number of exclusions in each local authority area and not at school level. Therefore information for middle and upper schools is not separately identifiable.
The latest data on exclusions were published in a Statistical First Release on 30 July 2009 at:
| Maintained primary and secondary schools( 1) : Number of pupil enrolments( 2) with permanent exclusions, 1996/97 to 2007/08, Milton Keynes local authority | ||||
| Primary( 1) | State-funded secondary( 1, 3) | |||
| Number of permanent exclusions | Percentage of the school population( 4) | Number of permanent exclusions | Percentage of the school population( 4) | |
| Data are as published, i.e. using the following notation: * = less than 3, or a rate based on less than 3. - = less than 5, or a rate based on less than 5. (1) Includes middle schools as deemed (upper schools are included as secondary). (2) Pupils may be counted more than once if they were registered at more than one school or moved schools during the school year. (3) State-funded secondary schools include maintained secondary schools, city technology colleges and academies. Milton Keynes local authority has no city technology colleges or academies. (4) The number of permanent exclusions expressed as a percentage of the number (headcount) of all pupils (excluding dually registered pupils) in January each year of the relevant school type. (5) Estimates based on local authority figures following a checking exercise to confirm the overall number of permanent exclusions in each local authority. Note: Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: Termly Exclusions Survey and School Census. | ||||
Schools: Admissions
Michael Gove: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (1) how many surplus places there are in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in each local authority; [324180]
(2) which local authorities which have over (a) 10 per cent. and (b) 25 per cent. surplus school places; [324181]
(3) which schools have surplus places; and how many surplus places each has. [324182]
Mr. Coaker: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of surplus places through an annual survey. The most recent published data relate to the position at January 2009 and show the breakdown of surplus places by local authority in primary and secondary schools. The data are available at:
As requested, a copy of the data has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
A table showing the number of local authorities with a percentage of surplus places of 10 or above at primary level and those with a percentage of surplus of 10 or above at secondary level has also been placed in the Libraries. There are no local authorities with 25 per cent. or more surplus school places.
Schools: Consultants
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what guidance his Department provides to (a) schools and (b) local authorities on their use of independent consultants and investigators. [323299]
Mr. Coaker: The Department does not provide guidance on the use of independent consultants and investigators by either schools or local authorities in connection with school staff suspensions and disciplinary matters. The operation of disciplinary procedures, including those that may result in suspension, is a matter for local determination as are decisions on whether additional or external sources of advice and support should be engaged.
Schools: ICT
Mr. Kemp: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how much funding his Department and its predecessors have provided for (a) computers and (b) information and communications technologies in schools and colleges in the City of Sunderland in the last five years for which figures are available. [313189]
Mr. Coaker: Funding for computers and information and communications technology in schools is made available predominantly via the Harnessing Technology Grant. This is paid by the Department to local authorities through the Standards Fund. The available figures on the amount of the Harnessing Technology Grant paid to the Sunderland local authority for each of the three years in the current spending period is set out in the following table:
| Harnessing technology grant allocation to Sunderland | |
| £ | |
However, the harnessing technology grant will not be the total ICT spend, as schools are free to use money from other sources on technological services and infrastructure. It should also be noted that the harnessing technology grant does not include funding that is being provided to the Government's educational technology
agency, Becta, in particular for the Home Access scheme (£300 million across England) which provides computers and an internet connection for eligible low income households.
Schools: Internet
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what (a) funding and (b) other support his Department has provided to the South West Grid for Learning in 2009-10; and whether he has had recent discussions with representatives of the grid on funding of broadband access for small primary schools. [323329]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 22 March 2010]: The South-West Grid for Learning (SWGFL) has not received any funding or support from DCSF or Becta in 2009-10, other than (i) small-scale grants to help promote adoption of the Becta self-review framework by schools; and (ii) support in kind to become a Framework for ICT Technical Support (FITS) training partner. Becta personnel recently met the chief executive for SWGFL to continue discussions about an effective strategic partnership in the SW-the costs of their broadband provision to schools, and the possibility of giving schools greater choice over the range of SWGFL-provided services that they pay for were also raised.
Schools: Managers
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what minimum qualifications will be required of school business managers; what the salary of a school business manager will be; and with what training school business managers will be provided. [323114]
Mr. Coaker: It is for schools to determine the appropriate level of qualification and salary for a School Business Manager. However, the National College for the Leadership of Schools and Children's Services has developed a career pathway comprising three programmes: the Certificate, the Diploma and the Advanced Diploma of School Business Management, which maps across the recently published National Association of School Business Management (NASBM) Competency Framework. There are currently 7,362(1) qualified School Business Managers, with a further 3,011(1) undergoing training.
Source:
(1) National College for the Leadership of Schools and Children's Services programme statistics.
Science: GCSE
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many pupils eligible for free school meals were entered for GCSEs in (a) biology and chemistry but not physics, (b) biology and physics but not chemistry, (c) physics and chemistry but not biology and (d) physics, chemistry and biology in (i) 1997 and (ii) the most recent year for which figures are available. [317219]
Mr. Coaker [holding answer 22 February 2010]: Of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2009, in maintained schools, eligible for free school meals:
41 were entered for biology and chemistry but not physics GCSEs,
11 were entered for biology and physics but not chemistry GCSEs,
8 were entered for physics and chemistry but not biology GCSEs, and
2,911 were entered for physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs.
Comparable figures for 1997 can be provided only at disproportionate cost.
Of pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 in 2005, in maintained schools, eligible for free school meals:
60 were entered for biology and chemistry but not physics GCSEs,
12 were entered for biology and physics but not chemistry GCSEs,
6 were entered for physics and chemistry but not biology GCSEs, and
1,296 were entered for physics, chemistry and biology GCSEs.
Sixth Form Education: Admissions
Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many surplus places there were in school sixth forms in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. [323295]
Mr. Coaker: The Department collects information from each local authority on the number of primary and secondary surplus school places via an annual survey.
The number of surplus places is not broken down into year groups. Local authorities provide the number of places (net capacity) for each secondary school as a whole; school sixth forms are not reported on separately because much of the space in secondary schools is shared between sixth form and other pupils.
The following table shows the number of surplus places in maintained secondary schools between 2005 and 2009 which are the most recent data available.
| Secondary surplus places( 1) | Surplus as a percentage of total secondary places | |
| (1) Number of places relate to position as at January Source: Surplus Places Survey | ||
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