Training: Young People
Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which initiatives undertaken by his Department for the purpose of economic recovery include skills learning for young people. [162594]
Matthew Hancock: Skills are an important driver of balanced and sustainable growth, and are central to delivering the ambitions of the Government. Further education (FE) and skills equip adults with the knowledge and skills necessary to help them succeed and thrive, and enable employers to build the work forces they need to grow in a global and competitive marketplace.
Apprenticeships are at the heart of our drive to equip people of all ages with the skills employers need to prosper and compete, often in a global market. Our priority is to expand apprenticeships where these deliver greatest benefits, including for younger people (16 to
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24), to reflect sector skills needs and opportunities, and where there is progression to advanced and higher levels.
Our recently announced traineeships programme will help young people aged 16 to 24 who need extra support to compete for apprenticeships and other jobs, by offering them work experience, employability skills and remedial English and maths provision.
USA: EU External Trade
Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the carbon footprint created by the expected greater trade between the US and the EU as a result of the agreement made at the G8 meeting at Lough Erne; and if the Government will conduct an environmental impact assessment of that agreement. [161508]
Michael Fallon: The March 2013 study by the European Commission (EC) estimates a minimal impact of carbon emissions arising from the EU-US free trade agreement—an increase of 0.02% to 0.07% in carbon emission levels for the world.
The UK study does not model the impact of carbon emissions explicitly, but we will continue to keep this under review.
Education
Arts: Curriculum
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent discussions he has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, (b) teachers and teachers' organisations and (c) arts and cultural organisations on arts and creativity in the curriculum. [162486]
Elizabeth Truss: On 5 June 2013, the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), chaired a round table discussion on arts education with head teachers and representatives from a variety of arts and cultural organisations. This was attended by the Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, my hon. Friend the Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey).
In addition, I recently chaired a Cultural Education Group meeting with my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Wantage (Mr Vaizey) on 21 May, 2013. The group's members include cultural education providers who are delivering Department for Education-funded cultural education programmes; head teachers; and Darren Henley, managing director of Classic FM.
Children: Arts
Ms Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of (a) primary school and (b) secondary school children have visited (i) an art gallery, (ii) a museum, (iii) a theatre, (iv) a dance and (v) a musical performance by the time they have left school. [162383]
Elizabeth Truss: The Department for Education does not collect this information.
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The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) produces the ‘Taking Part’ survey which provides statistics on how many five to 15-year-olds have engaged with cultural activities. The report is available on the DCMS website(1).
(1)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/taking-part-october-2011-to-september-2012-supplementary-child-report—2
Correspondence
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many times a Minister from his Department has written to all (a) primary head teachers, (b) secondary head teachers and (c) local education authorities since May 2010; and if he will make a statement. [162728]
Elizabeth Truss: This Government decided to make e-mail communication the default method for communicating with schools. The Department for Education manages, via a central team, all ministerial electronic communications sent to all schools and local authorities. Only the central team can request an e-mail be sent to all schools. One e-mail bulletin is sent to each school per school term, with exceptional bulletins sent as and when required. Some correspondence will have been sent directly to schools outside this default route and in such cases no central records are held. The Department has taken steps to reduce the volume of communications and guidance issued to schools since 2010, reducing the volume of guidance sent to schools by 94% between May and December 2010.
The following table shows the number of electronic communications sent, by year, to all schools and local authorities.
| 2010 (May onwards) | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 (to date) | |
| (1) Unknown | ||||
Education: Disadvantaged
Mr Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps he is taking to improve the educational attainment of children in receipt of free school meals in (a) Peterborough constituency and (b) England; and if he will make a statement. [161881]
Mr Laws: There is a strong link at every key stage between attainment and free school meal (FSM) entitlement: the evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the attainment of pupils eligible for FSM is generally lower than that of their peers. It is unacceptable that children's achievement at school and success in life should be constrained by economic disadvantage.
This is why in April 2011 we introduced the pupil premium, which is additional funding for schools in England to raise the attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. These are either pupils who have been registered for free school meals at any point in the past six years, or children in care who have been looked after by a local authority continuously for more than six months. The grant is worth £900 per pupil for 2013-14, and the total pupil premium will amount to £2.5 billion in 2014-15.
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Schools in Peterborough local authority received £5,350,000 of pupil premium funding in 2012-13.
The Education Endowment Foundation also administers £125 million on behalf of the Department to fund research into innovative approaches to raising attainment. Since the pupil premium was introduced, the attainment of disadvantaged pupils has improved. Results for 2012, the first year to reflect the impact of a full year of pupil premium, showed a larger than expected narrowing of attainment gaps nationally for both key stage 2 and key stage 4.
Languages: Education
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children were taught a modern foreign language in (a) year 2, (b) year 6, (c) year 9 and (d) year 11 in maintained schools in England in the latest year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [162727]
Elizabeth Truss: The requested information is not held by the Department. The information on the percentage of pupils that attempted a modern foreign language GCSE at the end of key stage 4 (year 11) is available from our statistical first release ‘Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England: academic year 2011 to 2012’(1), ‘Additional tables 1: SFR02/2013’ link, table 10a. There may be other pupils being taught a language in year 11 who have not been entered for a GCSE.
(1)https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/revised-gcse-and-equivalent-results-in-england-academic-year-2011-to-2012
Ministers' Private Offices
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of his private ministerial office staff are (a) male and (b) female. [162288]
Elizabeth Truss: There are currently seven female employees and one male employee in the ministerial private office of the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove).
National Curriculum Tests
Eric Ollerenshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) how many schools appealed against the refusal to be entered for the Level 6 SAT papers and were subsequently granted entry through appeal with the Standards and Testing Agency in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; [162159]
(2) how many schools appealed against refusal to be entered by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency for the Level 6 SAT papers in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010; [162160]
(3) how many schools appealed against refusal to be entered by the Standards and Testing Agency for the Level 6 SAT papers in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013; [162161]
(4) how many (a) schools and (b) pupils were refused entry by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency for the Level 6 SAT papers in (i) 2009 and (ii) 2010; [162162]
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(5) how many (a) schools and (b) pupils were refused entry by the Standards and Testing Agency for the Level 6 SAT papers in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012 and (iii) 2013; [162163]
(6) how many (a) schools and (b) pupils were entered for the Level 6 SAT papers with the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency in (i) 2009 and (ii) 2010; [162164]
(7) how many (a) schools and (b) pupils were entered for the Level 6 SAT papers with the Standards and Testing Agency in (i) 2011, (ii) 2012 and (iii) 2013; [162165]
(8) how many schools appealed against the refusal to be entered for the Level 6 SAT papers and were subsequently granted entry through appeal with the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency in (a) 2009 and (b) 2010. [162182]
Elizabeth Truss: Level 6 tests at key stage 2 (KS2) were first introduced in 2012 and, therefore, there are no figures relating to the period 2009-11 under either the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency or the Standards and Testing Agency (STA).
In the first year of the Level 6 tests, 2012, schools were permitted to enter pupils up to and including the day of the tests. There were no instances of refusals of entry or, therefore, related appeals.
In 2013, schools were required to register pupils for the Level 6 tests no later than the deadline of 22 March; in line with the statutory obligations set out in the KS2 assessment and reporting arrangements. This deadline was introduced as the previous year's arrangements—which enabled schools to register pupils up to and including the day of the tests—caused disruption and significant risks to the delivery of KS2 tests.
All schools that registered by the deadline were permitted. Schools with exceptional circumstances including local IT issues—highlighted to the STA prior to the deadline—and serious tragedies in their schools were permitted late registrations. A total of 28 schools were allowed such late registrations, with a total of 110 pupils. A further 59 pupils from 54 schools that arrived at their school post-deadline were permitted late registration.
There is no formal appeals process but a total of 240 complaints were received in relation to requests for registration of pupils post-deadline. This figure does not relate to unique schools as repeat complaints were in some cases received for a school through several different channels. No pupil level data were captured or supplied by these schools and therefore it is not possible to determine the number of individual pupils who may have been affected.
The total numbers of pupil and school registrations for 2012 and 2013 for KS2 Level 6 tests are detailed in the following table.(1)
| Mathematics | English reading | English grammar, punctuation and spelling | ||||
| 2012 | 2013 | 2012 | 2013 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| (1 )2013 is the first year in which the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test has been administered. | ||||||
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Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education under what curriculum (1) students ending key stage 2 in 2015 will be (a) taught and (b) assessed. [162567]
(2) students ending key stage 2 in 2016 will be (a) taught and (b) assessed. [162568]
Elizabeth Truss: The existing national curriculum will continue to be the basis for statutory end of key stage 2 assessments in summer 2015.
Key stage 2 statutory assessments under the new national curriculum will take place in summer 2016 and in subsequent years.
Decisions on the phasing in of the new national curriculum will be announced in the Government's response to the national curriculum consultation which will be published shortly.
Official Cars
Mr Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make it his policy to log the number of journeys undertaken by each Minister in his Department using the ministerial car pool. [162287]
Elizabeth Truss: The Department has no plans to log and collate this information.
This Government have significantly reduced the cost to the taxpayer of Government cars compared with the cost before the last general election.
For details of how much the Department has spent on the Government Car Service, I refer the hon. Member to the information published in the annual written ministerial statement, which can be found in the House Library. Statements for 2009/10 to 2011/12 can be found on the Parliament website(1, 2, 3).
Details of the cost of the Government Car Service for 2012/13 will be published in the normal way later this year.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm101028/wmstext/101028m0001.htm#10102827000372
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120116/wmstext/120116m0001.htm#12011611000194
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm121220/wmstext/121220m0001.htm#12122056000216
Pupils: Per Capita Costs
Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average per student funding was of primary schools of (a) fewer than 50, (b) from 50 to 99, (c) from 100 to 199, (d) from 200 to 299, (e) from 300 to 399 and (f) more than 400 pupils in (i) rural and (ii) non-rural areas in the latest year for which information is available; and if he will make a statement. [162731]
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Mr Laws: Average per pupil funding figures for primary schools in the requested classification for the 2012-13 financial year are shown in the following table.
| Primary average funding per pupil | ||
| (£) | ||
| School size | Rural | Non-rural |
Per pupil figures were derived from 2012-13 S251 school budget shares(1) and January 2012 school census data(2) matched across to the urban/rural indicator from the 2011/12 school capacity data(3).
The per pupil figures for smaller schools are generally higher as a greater proportion of their funding will come from lump sum factors in local authorities' funding formulae. The non-rural figures are in part higher due to greater levels of deprivation funding in more urban local authorities.
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(1)http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/section251/a00214232/s251-budget-2012-13-data
(2)( )https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2012
(3 )https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2011-to-2012
Schools: Vocational Guidance
Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much was spent by his Department on school based careers advice services in (a) 2012-13, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2010-11, (d) 2009-10 and (e) 2008-09. [162729]
Matthew Hancock: In September 2012, schools assumed legal responsibility for securing independent careers guidance for their pupils. Schools meet the costs of careers guidance from their overall budgets. Information on the amount spent by schools on careers guidance is not collected centrally.