House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 10 Oct 2011 (pt 0008)

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Families: Scotland

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will (a) estimate the proportion of the 120,000 most troubled families in Britain that are resident in Scotland and (b) publish demographic information about such families. [72013]

Tim Loughton: Estimates from the Cabinet Office have shown about 2% of families (around 140,000 families) across Britain suffer from multiple problems. Further (unpublished) analysis was commissioned to estimate the number in England which showed that there were around 120,000. We do not have information from that analysis on the proportion resident in Scotland or demographic information about such families. However, data from Census 2001:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/family-demography/focus-on-families/2007/index.html

shows that 9% of Britain's families live in Scotland—though that is all families, not families with multiple problems.

Family Intervention Programme

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many families have participated in the family intervention programme in each year since the establishment of the programme. [72035]

10 Oct 2011 : Column 201W

Tim Loughton: Official statistics show that 3,518 families were either receiving an intervention or had received support from a family intervention project in England between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 and 5,461 families between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011. We do not have this information for previous years.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many families have participated in the family intervention projects in each parliamentary constituency. [72036]

Tim Loughton: The Department does not hold this information but there is information provided at local authority level for England, published as official statistics on 14 September 2011:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d001021/index.shtml

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the budget was for family intervention projects in each year since the establishment of such projects; and what the planned budget is for each of the next four years. [72038]

Tim Loughton: The Government allocated £9,049,684 in 2007-08, £11,201,586 in 2008-09, £33,604,489 in 2009-10, £49,789,569 in 2010-11 and £46 million in 2011-12 for family intervention projects/services. The ring fence for this funding was removed in May 2010 and the funding for 2011-12 was included within DFE's Early Intervention Grant. This means that the actual amount spent in 2011-12 could be more or less than the amount allocated.

10 Oct 2011 : Column 202W

Information about the actual amount spent is not collected. The budget for the next four years has not been decided yet.

Free School Meals

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many of the 200 lowest performing primary schools which will become academies (a) have more than 40 per cent. of pupils eligible for free school meals, (b) are in the most deprived third of primary schools measured by the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index of Area Deprivation, (c) have more than 40 per cent. of pupils eligible for free school meals and are in the most deprived third of primary schools and (d) were in each Ofsted grade category in their most recent inspection report. [68469]

Mr Gibb: The Department does not intend to publish the characteristics of the 200 schools that have been below the primary school floor standard for the last five years.

Free School Meals: Yorkshire and the Humber

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many people in (a) York, (b) North Yorkshire, (c) Yorkshire and the Humber and (d) England received free school meals in each year since 1997. [71458]

Mr Gibb: The available information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is shown in the tables.

Information is not available prior to 2002 as pupil level data was not collected.

Maintained nursery, state-funded primary ^{(1, 2)} , ⁽⁾ state-funded secondary ^{(1, 3)} , special schools ⁽⁴⁾ and pupil referral units ⁽⁵⁾ , number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals, January each year
York local authority area
	Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools ^{(1, 2)}			State-funded secondary schools ^{(1, 3)}			Special schools ⁽⁴⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	13,201	1,460	11.1	9,205	852	9.3	276	84	30.4
2003	12,879	1,332	10.3	9,486	775	8.2	245	64	26.1
2004	12,843	1,380	10.7	9,555	817	8.6	221	51	23.1
2005	12,785	1,333	10.4	9,385	781	8.3	187	37	19.8
2006	12,621	1,338	10.6	9,266	821	8.9	178	44	24.7
2007	12,385	1,288	10.4	9,162	800	8.7	166	42	25.3
2008	12,175	1,203	9.9	8,873	760	8.6	150	37	24.7
2009	12,069	1,236	10.2	8,744	779	8.9	143	38	26.6
2010	12,170	1,339	11.0	8,743	796	9.1	133	30	22.6
2011	12,274	1,468	12.0	8,693	806	9.3	119	27	22.7

	Pup il referral units ⁽⁵⁾			Maintained nursery, state-funded primary ^{(1, 2)} , ⁽⁾ state-funded secondary ^{(1, 3)} , special schools ⁽⁴⁾ and pupil referral units ⁽⁵⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	—	—	—	22,682	2,396	10.6
2003	—	—	—	22,610	2,171	9.6
2004	—	—	—	22,619	2,248	9.9
2005	—	—	—	22,357	2,151	9.6

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2006	—	—	—	22,065	2,203	10.0
2007	—	—	—	21,713	2,130	9.8
2008	—	—	—	21,198	2,000	9.4
2009	—	—	—	20,956	2,053	9.8
2010	125	39	31.2	21,171	2,204	10.4
2011	149	54	36.2	21,235	2,355	11.1

North York shire local authority area
	Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools ^{(1, 2)}			State-funded secondary schools ^{(1, 3)}			Special schools ⁽⁴⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	45,410	4,014	8.8	35,650	2,354	6.6	498	119	23 9
2003	44,751	3,889	8.7	36,139	2,294	6.3	713	116	16.3
2004	43,885	3,897	8.9	36,429	2,439	6.7	683	108	15.8
2005	43,076	3,615	8.4	36,317	2,402	6.6	696	108	15.5
2006	42,223	3,442	8.2	36,022	2,367	6.6	669	114	17.0
2007	41,524	3,461	8.3	35,457	2,363	6.7	658	111	16.9
2008	41,083	3,379	8.2	34,902	2,352	6.7	646	108	16.7
2009	40,658	3,477	8.6	34,393	2,358	6.9	639	107	16.7
2010	40,323	4,122	10.2	33,922	2,617	7.7	617	122	19.8
2011	40,377	4,191	10.4	33,411	2,609	7.8	613	137	22.3

	Pup il referral units ⁽⁵⁾			Maintained nursery, state-funded primary ^{(1, 2)} , ⁽⁾ state-funded secondary ^{(1, 3)} , special schools ⁽⁴⁾ and pupil referral units ⁽⁵⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	—	—	—	81,558	6,487	8.0
2003	—	—	—	81,603	6,299	7.7
2004	—	—	—	80,997	6,444	8.0
2005	—	—	—	80,089	6,125	7.6
2006	—	—	—	78,914	5,923	7.5
2007	—	—	—	77,639	5,935	7.6
2008	—	—	—	76,631	5,839	7.6
2009	—	—	—	75,690	5,942	7.9
2010	66	10	15.2	74,928	6,871	9.2
2011	46	3	6.5	74,447	6,940	9.3

York shire and the Humber
	Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools ^{(1, 2)}			State-funded secondary schools ^{(1, 3)}			Special schools ⁽⁴⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	431,015	84,905	19.7	312,420	53,930	17.3	6,585	2,765	42.0
2003	424,145	80,955	19.1	316,080	53,165	16.8	7,060	2,715	38.5
2004	415,765	79,770	19.2	317,955	51,805	16.3	6,845	2,625	38.4
2005	410,570	75,900	18.5	315,715	50,885	16.1	6,650	2,410	36.2
2006	404,205	69,430	17.2	313,890	48,460	15.4	6,615	2,230	33.7
2007	398,295	68,345	17.2	309,795	46,500	15.0	6,535	2,145	32.8
2008	394,575	67,270	17.0	304,190	45,540	15.0	6,570	2,100	32.0
2009	393,310	69,205	17.6	298,370	45,085	15.1	6,510	2,190	33.6

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2010	394,640	76,030	19.3	294,380	47,180	16.0	6,365	2,185	34.3
2011	397,300	78,345	19.7	290,395	47,240	16.3	6,270	2,290	36.5

	Pup il referral units ⁽⁵⁾			Maintained nursery, state-funded primary ^{(1, 2)} , ⁽⁾ state-funded secondary ^{(1, 3)} , special schools ⁽⁴⁾ and pupil referral units ⁽⁵⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	—	—	—	750,020	141,600	18.9
2003	—	—	—	747,280	136,835	18.3
2004	—	—	—	740,570	134,200	18.1
2005	—	—	—	732,935	129,190	17.6
2006	—	—	—	724,715	120,120	16.6
2007	—	—	—	714,630	116,985	16.4
2008	—	—	—	705,335	114,910	16.3
2009	—	—	—	698,190	116,480	16.7
2010	1,195	445	37.8	696,580	125,835	18.0
2011	1,355	480	35.4	693,965	127,875	18.4

England
	Maintained nursery and state-funded primary schools ^{(1, 2)}			State-funded secondary schools ^{(1, 3)}			Special schools ⁽⁴⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	4,064,895	741,495	18.2	2,953,655	469,760	15.9	77,785	30,305	39.0
2003	4,023,395	719,425	17.9	2,992,635	463,600	15.5	84,240	30,615	36.3
2004	3,977,530	730,420	18.4	3,010,100	464,425	15.4	81,825	30,245	37.0
2005	3,939,755	708,245	18.0	2,993,920	453,390	15.1	80,240	27,955	34.8
2006	3,899,450	664,980	17.1	2,985,905	439,125	14.7	79,310	26,690	33.7
2007	3,860,420	654,290	16.9	2,955,210	425,110	14.4	78,760	26,290	33.4
2008	3,837,680	637,170	16.6	2,913,725	413,365	14.2	78,265	25,705	32.8
2009	3,825,475	652,305	17.1	2,883,245	417,970	14.5	78,030	26,245	33.6
2010	3,838,680	711,405	18.5	2,864,345	441,145	15.4	78,335	27,325	34.9
2011	3,873,175	743,255	19.2	2,837,825	450,275	15.9	79,030	28,830	36.5

	Pup il referral units ⁽⁵⁾			Maintained nursery, state-funded primary ^{(1, 2)} , ⁽⁾ state-funded secondary ^{(1, 3)} , special schools ⁽⁴⁾ and pupil referral units ⁽⁵⁾
	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals	Number on roll ^{(6, 7)}	Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals ^{(6, 7)}	Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals
2002	—	—	—	7,096,340	1,241,560	17.5
2003	—	—	—	7,100,265	1,213,635	17.1
2004	—	—	—	7,069,450	1,225,090	17.3
2005	—	—	—	7,013,915	1,189,590	17.0
2006	—	—	—	6,964,660	1,130,790	16.2
2007	—	—	—	6,894,390	1,105,690	16.0
2008	—	—	—	6,829,670	1,076,240	15.8
2009	—	—	—	6,786,750	1,096,525	16.2
2010	15,140	5,050	33.3	6,796,500	1,184,920	17.4

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2011	13,725	4,745	34.6	6,803,755	1,227,110	18.0
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ Includes primary academies. ⁽³⁾ Includes city technology colleges and academies. ⁽⁴⁾ Includes maintained and non-maintained special schools. Excludes general hospital schools. ⁽⁵⁾ Comparable information for pupil referral units is not available prior to 2010 (when the collection became pupil-level). ⁽⁶⁾ Includes sole and dual (main) registrations. In pupil referral units also includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. ⁽⁷⁾ Includes pupils who have full-time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part-time attendance and are aged between five and 15 (age as at 31 August). Note: National and regional totals have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: School Census.

The latest information, for January 2011, on free school meal eligibility and other school and pupil information can be found in the “Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2011” Statistical First Release at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml

Free Schools

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) for what reasons he has extended his Department's contract to provide support for the free school pre-application process; [71556]

(2) who was involved in taking the decision to extend his Department's contract for providing support on the free school pre-application process; [71557]

(3) who composed the advertisement on his Department's website for the contract to provide support in the free school pre-application process; [71558]

(4) which Minister of his Department was responsible for the decision to extend the contract to provide support for the free school pre-application process; [71590]

(5) when the New Schools Network was advised that the contract for providing support for the free school pre-application process had been extended. [71594]

Mr Gibb: We formally agreed with the New Schools Network in June 2011 that the original grant agreement was being extended by two months, without additional funding, to 30 September 2011. The decision to extend was made by the Under-Secretary of State for Schools, my noble Friend Lord Hill of Oareford, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), following advice from officials. It allowed the Department to evaluate the level and quality of support provided to proposers as part of the new process for the second wave of applications before finalising the specification for the competitive grant process that was recently launched. The advertisement on the Department's website for the competitive grant process was written by officials.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what the names are of the organisations and individuals consulted by each of the free schools that opened in September 2011 in accordance with the duty to consult under section 10 of the Academies Act 2010; [71566]

(2) if he will publish the results of each consultation undertaken under section 10 of the Academies Act 2010 by the free schools that opened in September 2011. [71567]

Mr Gibb: The duty to consult under section 10 of the Academies Act 2010 is on the academy trust of a free school, not the Department. The Department does not hold a central record of all of the organisations and individuals consulted as part of the establishment of the free schools opened this month. It is for the individual academy trusts to decide whether to publish the results of their consultations.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the budget is of his Department's free schools group for 2011-12. [71648]

Mr Gibb: The budget allocation for free schools for 2011-12 has yet to be finalised and is partly dependent on the number of high quality free school proposals that are approved to open in September 2012.

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education from which geographic areas applications have been made to establish free schools to date. [72150]

Mr Gibb: Applications to establish free schools have been received from every region in England.

Free Schools: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many applications for free schools funding he has received from Ashfield constituency. [72336]

Mr Gibb: To date, the Department for Education has not received any applications for free schools proposing to be located in Ashfield constituency.

Free Schools: Inspections

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans Ofsted has to inspect free schools. [72268]

10 Oct 2011 : Column 209W

Mr Gibb: Free schools are subject to inspection by Ofsted under the same arrangements as those that apply to other academies and maintained schools.

Free Schools: Teachers

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of teachers in each free school do not have a teaching qualification or qualified teacher status. [72271]

Mr Gibb: The Department for Education does not currently hold this information. Free schools are required to take part in statutory data collection exercises, including the School Workforce Census which collects data on teaching staff. The first such data collection exercises

10 Oct 2011 : Column 210W

for free schools that opened in September 2011 will take place during this academic year and the resulting data will be published on the Department's website.

GCSE

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many and what proportion of children achieved GCSE grade A* to C in (a) ICT, (b) classical civilisation and (c) business studies in (i) 2009, (ii) 2010 and (iii) 2011. [70515]

Mr Gibb [holding answer 7 September 2011]: The available information is given in the following table. Provisional figures for 2011 will be published in October 2011.

Number and percentage of pupils achieving GCSE grade A-C in selected subjects, 2009 and 2010*
	ICT		Classical c ivilisation		Business s tudies
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
2009	39,400	6.2	3,200	0.5	48,200	7.6
2010	32,900	5.1	3,500	0.5	46,900	7.3
Notes: 1. Source: School and College Performance Tables. 2. Numbers are rounded to the nearest hundred. 3. All figures are final.

Manpower

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what sub-departments there are within his Department; and how many full-time equivalent staff are employed in each. [71679]

Tim Loughton [holding answer 13 September) 2011]: Sub-departments are known as directorates and the latest published information for the Department (as at 31 August 2011) is available in the following table:

Directorate	Total	FTE
Children Young People and Families	526	503.0
Education Standards	970	925.9
Finance and Strategy	168	161.5
Infrastructure and Funding	809	767.1
Private Office	64	63.1
internal Audit	28	27.0
Legal	3	3.0
Total	2,568	2,450.6

National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics: Manpower

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many (a) managers and (b) operational staff there are at the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics. [70671]

Mr Gibb: The National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics is currently receiving funding for 3.8 full-time equivalent managerial staff undertaken by five members of staff, and five full-time equivalent operational staff undertaken by seven members of staff. This does not include the part-time director role occupied by Professor Celia Hoyles who is seconded from the Institute of Education.

New Schools Network

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what discussions he has had with Cabinet Office colleagues regarding the award of Government funding to the New Schools Network. [70817]

Mr Gibb [holding answer 8 September 2011]: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has not had any discussions with Cabinet Office colleagues on this matter.

New Schools Network: Finance

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the reasons were for establishing a grant agreement between his Department and the New Schools Network. [71391]

Mr Gibb [holding answer 12 September 2011]: The experience of the Academies programme indicates that the support requirements for some promoters, such as new parent groups, could be significant, particularly in the first few months. Some of this function is most

10 Oct 2011 : Column 211W

appropriately provided by an external organisation, which also distinguishes the roles of promoting and encouraging free school projects from the role of approving them. The Department considered carefully the options for securing the requisite services from an external organisation. Given the need for specialist skills and experience to be in place quickly, it was decided to award a time limited grant to the New Schools Network (NSN).

NSN has championed the development of parent and teacher promoted schools and has been providing advice and support to those interested in establishing new schools, including many of those that have gone on to form the first free schools to open, since 2009. It has also been developing networks among interested groups and individuals. This experience made it ideally placed to fulfil the role and no other organisation had similar experience. The Department has given similar grants in the past, such as to the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, the Youth Sport Trust, Holocaust Educational Trust and the National Literacy Trust.

Nurseries

Elizabeth Truss: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many nursery places there were at (a) maintained, (b) private, (c) voluntary and (d) independent Ofsted-registered providers in (i) 2000-01, (ii) 2004-05, (iii) 2005-06 and (iv) the most recent year for which figures are available. [72098]

Sarah Teather: The Childcare and Early Years Provider Survey collects information on a regular basis on the number and characteristics of Ofsted registered places amongst child-care and early years providers, including their ownership. Data are not collected on independent Ofsted registered providers.

In 2001, the estimated total number of nursery places was 335,300 and the total number of places for playgroups and pre-schools was 360,900. Data on ownership are not available for 2001. Figures for 2001 are not directly comparable with subsequent years as there was a change to the question about child care places and a change in the definition of provider types.

The following tables provide the number of Ofsted registered places in full day care and sessional settings by ownership for 2005 to 2010, the most recent year for which these figures are available.

Number of Ofsted registered places by ownership
Full day care
	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
Total number of places	716,700	647,800	620,700	596,500	544,200	511,100

Private or voluntary	626,400	567,500	535,600	510,200	477,900	379,500
Private	464,200	466,900	436,700	417,300	379,400	303,000
Voluntary	162,300	100,600	98,900	92,900	99,700	77,600

Maintained	83,800	63,400	62,900	67,200	54,300	69,800
Local authority	46,200	28,200	29,800	32,600	30,600	49,100
School/college	37,500	35,200	33,100	34,600	24,000	20,800

10 Oct 2011 : Column 212W

Other	14,400	16,100	26,100	14,500	14,500	41,600
Note: Full day care settings are defined as 'facilities that provide day care for children under eight for a continuous period of four hours or more in any day in premises which are not domestic premises'. Base: Child care providers 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005. Sources: 1. Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2010. DFE: OSR17/2011 2. Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2009. DFE RR-012

Sessional
	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006	2005
Total number of places	251,000	227,900	243,500	248,100	278,300	265,400

Private or Voluntary	238,500	216,700	226,800	232,000	265,700	229,200
Private	91,200	67,900	71,400	70,200	83,000	81,700
Voluntary	147,300	148,800	155,400	161,700	183,500	49,300

Maintained	17,200	10,300	14,200	15,400	12,800	11,300
Local authority	10,200	5,600	7,700	8,600	9,600	7,200
School/college	6,900	4,700	6,500	6,800	3,200	4,100

Other	2,600	2,000	3,800	3,300	700	8,300
Note: Sessional care is defined as 'facilities where children under eight attend day care for no more than five sessions a week, each session being less than a continuous period of four hours in any day. Where two sessions are offered in any one day, there is a break between sessions with no children in the care of the provider'. Base: Child care providers 2010, 009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005. Sources: 1. Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2010. DFE OSR17/2011 2. Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey 2009. DFE RR-012

Pupils: Attendance

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve school attendance. [71555]

Mr Gibb: We are taking a number of steps to improve school attendance. In particular we have reduced the threshold at which a pupil is defined as persistently absent to where a pupil is absent for more than 15% of their schooling, down from 20%. We will continue to look at the possibility of further lowering the threshold over time.

There are a range of parental responsibility measures available to tackle poor attendance, which include parenting contracts; parenting orders; penalty notices; and prosecutions. Charlie Taylor, the Department's independent adviser on school behaviour, along with a team of teaching professionals, will be undertaking a review of these measures in order to make them more effective and to encourage schools to make more use of them.

We will be publishing school level absence data in both the combined autumn and spring term and annual statistical releases.

As part of the new Ofsted inspections framework inspectors will, from January 2012, be looking at school attendance as part the wider behaviour strand of the framework.

10 Oct 2011 : Column 213W

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many children and young people have been sent to each pupil referral unit in each of the last five years. [72034]

Mr Gibb: Information on pupils attending each pupil referral unit (PRU) in England for each of the past five years has been placed in the House Libraries. The information relates to pupils registered at a PRU at the census date, third Thursday in January.

In 2010 a finer breakdown of the different registration types was introduced and this is reflected in the tables.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what assessment he has made of the level of spending by local authorities on youth activities. [72058]

Tim Loughton: The Department recently received returns from local authorities in England showing planned spend on education and children's services in 2011-12. These suggest that local authorities plan to spend a total of £883 million on services for young people this year which include: youth work; positive activities; information, advice and guidance; substance misuse and teenage pregnancy reduction; and discretionary awards and student support. This represents a 25% reduction on planned spend in 2010-11.

Some youth activities are funded from local authority youth justice budgets. Including total spend on youth justice, planned spend in 2011-12 is £1,245 million, a reduction of 20% on planned spend in 2010-11.

10 Oct 2011 : Column 214W

Decisions on levels of spending on services for young people are for local authorities to make. The Government encourage local authorities to invest in evidence-based early intervention strategies to improve outcomes for disadvantaged young people, and to avoid reductions likely to lead to higher costs in future years.

Schools: Admissions

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to allow good schools to expand by increasing pupil numbers. [67267]

Mr Gibb: We consulted nationally between 27 May and 19 August on revised school admissions and appeals codes. As part of that consultation we proposed to relax the current regulations that restrict schools' ability to increase their Published Admission Number (PAN). The changes would enable schools, where they are able and willing to do so, to increase their PAN with far fewer restrictions than at present.

We are carefully analysing the responses to the consultation and intend to publish the departmental response, along with the revised codes, in due course.

Schools: Ashfield

Gloria De Piero: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many pupils attended schools in Ashfield constituency in each year since 2007. [71731]

Mr Gibb: The information requested is shown in the following tables:

All schools: Number of pupils by type of school, Ashfield constituency. January each year: 2007 - 11
Number (headcount) of pupils ⁽⁵⁾
	Nursery
	Maintained	Direct grant	Total	State-funded primary ^(1,2)	State-funded secondary ^(1,3)
2007	142	n/a	142	8,549	6,765
2008	136	n/a	136	8,195	6,772
2009	129	n/a	129	8,378	6,639
2010	139	n/a	139	8,325	6,623
2011	101	n/a	101	8,355	6,520

Number (headcount) of pupils ⁽⁵⁾
	Special
	Maintained ⁽⁴⁾	Non-maintained	Total	Pupil referral units	Independent	All schools
2007	149	n/a	149	n/a	149	15,354
2008	155	n/a	155	n/a	155	15,714
2009	145	n/a	145	n/a	142	15,433
2010	151	n/a	151	n/a	126	15,366
2011	156	n/a	156	n/a	73	15,205
n/a = not applicable. No schools at this type. ⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ Includes primary academies. ⁽³⁾ Includes city technology colleges and secondary academies including all-through academies. ⁽⁴⁾ Includes general hospital schools. ⁽⁵⁾ Includes pupils who are sole or dual main registrations. In PRUs. also includes pupils registered with other providers and further education colleges. Source: School Census

Schools: Assessments

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many (a) letters and (b) emails he has received from Ofqual concerning examination paper errors since May 2011; and how many such items of correspondence he has responded to; [66928]

10 Oct 2011 : Column 215W

(2) how many students sat (a) a GCSE and (b) an A-level paper that contained an error in a question for each (i) subject and (ii) examination board in 2011; [66929]

(3) on what dates his Department has reviewed examination paper errors since April 2011. [66930]

Mr Gibb: The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), has had a number of updates from the chief executive of Ofqual on this matter, and respective officials have stayed in touch regularly, both in person and using various media.

Both the Secretary of State and I met with Ofqual on a number of occasions to discuss the issue and also received regular briefings from Ofqual.

We estimate that 138,782 individual papers may have contained errors from a total of around 15.7 million

10 Oct 2011 : Column 216W

that were sat. This equates to less than 1% of papers which may have contained an error.

However, the total number of papers containing errors will be not be confirmed until Ofqual report on the summer 2011 appeals against results for GCSE and GCE, which is due to be published early in 2012. Predictions now on the total number of papers, and the subsequent number of students affected by the errors would not be wholly reliable.

Schools: City of York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was spent on average per child on (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils in state schools in the City of York (i) in cash terms and (ii) at constant prices in each year since 1996-97. [71462]

Mr Gibb: The information is as follows:

Per pupil spend in primary and secondary schools in City of York from 1996 to 2009 ^(1,2)
	Cash terms expenditure per pupil in City of York			Real terms expenditure per pupil in City of York
	Primary education	Pre-primary and primary education ⁽³⁾	Secondary education	Primary education	Pre-primary and primary education ⁽¹⁾	Secondary education
1996-97	—	1,540	2,210	—	2,210	3,020
1997-98	—	1,600	2,350	—	2,130	3,130
1998-99	—	1,730	2,460	—	2,250	3,210
1999-2000	1,760	—	2,430	2,250	—	3,110
2000-01	1,860	—	2,640	2,340	—	3,330
2001-02	2,180	—	2,830	2,690	—	3,490
2002-03^(4,5)	2,390	—	3,080	2,860	—	3,680
2003-04	2,560	—	3,330	2,970	—	3,870
2004-05	2,680	—	3,660	3,040	—	4,140
2005-06	2,930	—	3,860	3,260	—	4,280
2006-07	3,140	—	3,970	3,370	—	4,260
2007-08	3,290	—	4,190	3,430	—	4,380
2008-09	3,490	—	4,570	3,540	—	4,640
2009-10	3,590	—	4,750	3,590	—	4,750
⁽¹⁾ Pupil numbers include only those pupils attending local authority maintained primary schools and are drawn from the DFE Annual Schools Census adjusted to be on a financial year basis. ⁽²⁾ Figures are rounded to the nearest £10. ⁽³⁾ Expenditure was not distinguished between the pre-primary and primary sectors until the inception of Section 251 for financial year 1999-2000. ⁽⁴⁾ 1999-2000 saw a change in data source when the data collection moved from the RO1 form collected by the ODPM to the Section 251 form from the DFE. 2002-03 saw a further break in the time series following the introduction of Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) and the associated restructuring of the outturn tables. The change in sources is shown by the dotted line. From 2002-03 school based expenditure is taken from Section 251 Outturn Table A line 51 net current expenditure (NCE). For 2001-02 and earlier years the expenditure is calculated as lines 1 to 12 less lines 29, 30, 35 and 37. This differs from the old Net Institutional Expenditure (NIE) calculation only in the treatment of meals and milk which is no longer excluded and no adjustments for balances are now made. This is taken from Section 251 Outturn Table 3 for 1999-00 to 2001-02 and from the RO1 form previously. ⁽⁵⁾ The calculation for 2002-03 onwards is broadly similar to the calculation in previous years. However, 2001-02 and earlier years includes all premature retirement compensation (PRC) and Crombie payments, mandatory PRC payments and other indirect employee expenses. In 2001-02 this accounted for approximately £70 per pupil. From 2002-03 onwards only the schools element of these categories is included and this accounted for approximately £50 per pupil of the 2002-03 total. Also, for some LAs, expenditure that had previously been attributed to the school sectors was reported within the LA part of the form from 2002-03, though this is not quantifiable from existing sources. Notes: 1. School based expenditure includes only expenditure incurred directly by the schools. This includes the pay of teachers and school-based support staff, school premises costs, books and equipment, and certain other supplies and services, less any capital items funded from recurrent spending and income from sales, fees and charges and rents and rates. This excludes the central cost of support services such as home to school transport, local authority administration and the financing of capital expenditure. 2. Base year for real terms prices is 2009-10 financial year.

Schools: Devon

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much his Department spent on (a) primary and (b) secondary school education in Devon in 2010. [71263]

Mr Gibb: The Department for Education allocates education funding to local authorities via the Dedicated Schools Grant and separate Standards Fund grants. In 2010-11, the Department allocated £4,700 per pupil. This figure relates to pupils aged three to 19. This is slightly higher than the Guaranteed Unit of Funding for 2011-12 (which is £4,602.77) because the 2010-11 allocation included £20 for sixth formers and £80 from the ending of grants which were not mainstreamed this year (such as Targeted Improvement Grant, Music, Foundation Learning and National Challenge). As the Dedicated Schools Grant is a mechanism for distributing funding, a split between primary and secondary schools is not available. But in 2010-11 Devon county council delegated on average £3,251 per pupil to its primary schools and £4,148 to its secondary schools.

10 Oct 2011 : Column 217W

Anne Marie Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the guaranteed level of funding per pupil was for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Devon in the latest period for which figures are available. [71266]

Mr Gibb: The Guaranteed Unit of Funding for Devon in 2011-12 is £4,602 per pupil. The Department for Education allocates this funding to Devon and it is for the authority to delegate this funding to the schools in their area through their local funding formula to best meet the individual needs and pressures of their schools. It also pays for the free entitlement to early education for three and four-year-olds, and for services retained by the local authority, such as support for high needs pupils.

The level of funding of the pupil premium in 2011-12 is £430 per pupil for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, £430 per pupil for looked after children and £200 per pupil for service children. According to the figures recorded on the January 2011 School Census, Devon will receive £4.86 million for the pupil premium.

Schools: Finance

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will estimate the size of his Department's schools budget in each of the next four years required to increase schools spending by 0.7% in real terms in each of those years. [68499]

Tim Loughton: The estimate of the schools budget were it to be increased by 0.7% in real terms in each of the next four years is set out in the following table. To calculate this the Budget 2011 GDP deflators have been used. For information these are also set out in the following table.

Financial year	School baseline in cash terms (uprated at 0.7% per annum plus inflation) (£ million)	GDP deflator (Budget 2011)
2011-12	37,400	1.000
2012-13	38,603	1.025
2013-14	39,923	1.053
2014-15	41,288	1.081
2015-16	42,700	1.110

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what progress his Department has made in conducting its full survey of the school estate in (a) England and (b) Hertfordshire; [71870]

(2) what progress his Department has made on identifying expenditure on capital maintenance at school level; what assessment he has made of the value for money of such expenditure; and if he will make a statement; [71872]

(3) with reference to the Review of Education Capital, April 2011, what progress has been made on implementing a national contract for maintenance and small capital projects. [71876]

10 Oct 2011 : Column 218W

Mr Gibb: The Department is currently consulting on key recommendations of the Review of Education Capital, including on gathering existing condition data and carrying out a full survey of the school estate; and on the implementation of a national contract for maintenance and small capital projects. The consultation will close on 11 October. We want to progress swiftly with the collection of condition data and our provisional timetable suggests surveys would start in April 2012 and be completed by late 2013. We will consider the findings of the consultation before making decisions about national contracts.

The review proposes that the Department maximises value for money delivered through maintenance and small projects and puts in place a clear national contract to make this happen. Overall, we wish to move to the model the review proposes, but we are aware that there are currently local and regional procurement models in place which claim to be delivering on time and with value for money. Some of these may involve contractual arrangements which cannot immediately be changed. This is why we are consulting on this issue to explore the potential and benefits before implementing any change and we do not want to pre-judge the outcome of the consultation.

No information is collected on capital maintenance spend at school level. Local authorities and other local partners make their own decisions on investment maintenance for their buildings based on their own assessment of need. Also, revenue funding can be used to support routine maintenance of buildings.

Stephen McPartland: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what progress his Department has made on the introduction of the national funding formula; and if he will make a statement. [71873]

Mr Gibb: In July we launched a consultation on school funding; this closes on 11 October. We will consider the responses carefully before making decisions on a new funding formula for schools.

Schools: Flags

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what guidance he has given to schools on flying the Union flag on (a) a regular basis, (b) specific national occasions and (c) occasional special events; and if he will make a statement. [71606]

Mr Gibb: The Department has not issued any guidance to schools on flying the Union flag. This is consistent with our overall strategy to increase schools' autonomy and to reduce the burden of guidance. Too much guidance can overwhelm school staff and stifle innovation. That is why we have reduced the amount of guidance for schools by 6,000 pages since May 2010.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is responsible for issuing guidance for hoisting the Union flag on UK Government buildings. However, individuals, local authorities, schools and other organisations may fly any flag they wish, subject to compliance with any local planning requirement.

10 Oct 2011 : Column 219W

Guidance on flying the Union flag can be accessed on the following hyperlink:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/honours/7124.aspx

Schools: Overseas Students

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what information his Department holds on the (a) number and (b) country of origin of foreign nationals who have attended (i) an independent and (ii) a maintained school in each of the last five academic years. [72655]

Mr Gibb: Information on the country of origin of pupils is not centrally collected.

The latest information on the ethnic origin of pupils can be found in Table 4 of the ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics: January 2011’ Statistical First Release at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s001012/index.shtml

School Sport Partnerships

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the budget was for school sport partnerships in (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11 and (d) 2011-12. [72410]

Tim Loughton: The Department's budget for the school sport partnerships programme for the years 2008-09 to 2010-11 is set out in the following table. The programme finished in July 2011 and therefore no grant payments were made in 2011-12.

	£
2008-09	113,214,939
2009-10	116,030,709
2010-11	102,528,267

However, new funding of £65 million is now being made available to enable schools to provide more opportunities for competitive sport. This grant covers the next two school years and will pay for one day a week of a secondary PE teacher's time to be spent out of the classroom to encourage greater take-up of competitive sport in primary schools and increase the amount of intra- and inter- school sporting competition for all pupils.

Schools: Transport

Mr Andrew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) what discussions he has had with local education authorities on his proposal no longer to include questions on mode of travel in the schools census; [72116]

(2) with reference to his Department's Information about Children, Education and Schools Bulletin issue 50, for what reason he proposes that questions on mode of travel should no longer be included in the schools census. [72117]

10 Oct 2011 : Column 220W

Tim Loughton: This Government are committed to reducing the bureaucracy and burdens facing our front line services. Following a review of the data collected through the schools census, carried out in partnership with representative schools and local authorities, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), agreed to remove a number of items, including questions on mode of travel.

The Department introduced 'Usual Mode of Travel' into the schools census in 2007 primarily to inform the Travelling to School Initiative (TTSI), which was a project to encourage more children to travel to school sustainably. The data were used to inform schools completing a travel plan. As the TTSI ended on 31 March 2010, the Department no longer has any need to collect this data. However, if local authorities wish they can continue to collect such travel data locally.

Schools: Wirral

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what funds (a) were and (b) are to be made available to schools in Wirral in (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12, (iii) 2012-13, (iv) 2013-14 and (v) 2014-15. [67991]

Mr Gibb: Information on the funding available to Wirral's maintained schools is provided in the authority's annual section 251 budget return. This shows that Wirral's schools budget is £193.8 million in 2010-11 and £217.8 million in 2011-12.

Academies are funded via the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA) using the authority's local school funding formula to ensure that academies and maintained schools are funded on a fair and comparable basis. In 2010-11, Birkenhead High School Academy was funded £4.5 million by the YPLA. In 2011-12 Birkenhead High School Academy and the University Academy Birkenhead have been allocated a total of £12 million.

2012-13 local authority allocations will be announced in the autumn.

The Department is currently consulting on a series of proposals to reform the school funding system which will affect the allocations for 2013-14 and 2014-15. The consultation will close on 11 October 2011. The consultation document is available via the following link:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/a00192415/consultation-on-school-funding-reform-proposals-for-a-fairer-system

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