§ Mr. Menzies CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list(a) those targets of the Service Children's Education agency for 1998–99 which (i) were and (ii) were not achieved, giving the factors affecting the outcome in each case and (b) action taken by the agency to improve target achievement performance in 1999–2000; and if he will make a statement. [111738]
696W
Annex A—Service Children's Education—Performance against key targets 1998–99 KT No. Key target description Target (Percentage) Achievement Remarks 1 Exceed the 1997–98 UK LEA average percentage pass rate (measured as a percentage of pupil entries) gaining A* to C grade in 5 or more subjects at GCSE by 4 per cent 44.3% 47.4% —
§ Dr. MoonieThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Service Children's Education agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the right hon. and learned Member.
Letter from David Wadsworth to Mr. Menzies Campbell, dated 6 March 2000:
Key TargetsThe Key Targets for 1998/99 for the Service Children's Education Agency, and our performance against them, are set out in our Annual Report and Accounts 1998/1999 (HC167), a copy of which was placed in the library of the House of Commons.In broad terms the performance of the Agency was judged in 98/99 against nine Key Targets; five directly related to education; the remainder covering efficiency, customer satisfaction and response times to enquiries. A final milestone target related to the introduction of an SCE nursery education scheme.The performance of the Agency against these targets is set out at Annexes A and B, attached.As you will see from those figures, I am pleased to report that, in the main, we met the overwhelming majority of our targets. Those that we did not meet are as follows:Key Target 4—The SATs targets at Key Stages 12, 2 and 3 (ages 7, 11 and 14)Although 11 of the 18 individual aspects to this target were achieved, 7 were not. These were:
- English—Key Stage 1 Test/Task, and Key Stage 3 Teacher Assessment
- Maths—Key Stage 1 Teacher Assessment and Key Stage 2 Test/Task
- Science—Key Stages 1 and 3 Teacher Assessment and Key Stage 3 Test/Task
No specific reasons for failing to achieve these targets has yet been adduced. It should be noted that in all assessments at KS I, KS2 and KS3 our achievement scores were higher than English LEAs, sometimes significantly so (on average by +5.8%).Key Target 7—The Efficiency Target (reduction in per capita pupil costs, measured on an accruals basis)An unexpected drop in pupil numbers combined with increased financial investment in education, for example extra funding for the Literacy and Numeracy strategies, meant that this target was not met in 1998/99. The use of such a blunt measure of efficiency has now been judged to be unrealistic, given the continuing investment in education spending and teaching salaries. It has therefore been proposed that, for 1999/2000 and beyond, the Agency should develop a means to measure the "value added" by SCE. This will require further developments in baseline assessments and in pupil through-life tracking via Unique Pupil Numbers (UPNs).With regard to the future, our Key Targets for 99/00 have been modified to achieve an improvement each year on the Agency's performance on the previous year. This should reflect a more realistic but nevertheless challenging target in these subjects. My aspiration to improve our performance in 1999/2000 is being addressed by involving schools more closely in the target setting process, a continued commitment to the literacy and numeracy strategies through intensive in service training for teachers, and the greater involvement of the external advisers to Agency's Owner's, namely DfEE, HMI/Ofsted and the Chief Education Officer of Hampshire Local Education Authority to ensure that the targets are realistic.I hope that this is helpful.697W
Annex A—Service Children's Education—Performance against key targets 1998–99 KT No. Key target description Target (Percentage) Achievement Remarks 2 Exceed the 1997–98 UK LEA average percentage pass rate (as measured as a percentage of subject entries) at grades A to C level at A level by 2 per cent. 54% 60.3% — 3 Maintain an overall percentage pass rate for GNVQ intermediate level 92% 70–96% 70 per cent. of those who commenced the course completed it in the year. 96% of those who completed it were successful 4 Achieve the following results at Standard Attainment Tasks and Tests (SATs) at each of ages 7, 11 and 14 Please see Annex B Please see Annex B — 5 Achieve as a minimum satisfactory + in each OFSTED school inspection Sat+ Achieved — 6 Implement the SCE elements of the MoD scheme for the provision of nursery education overseas to be completed by September 1998 September 1998 Achieved — 7 To achieve an overall reduction in per capita pupil costs, measured on an accruals basis 2.5% Failed Unexpected drop in pupil numbers and increased spend on DfEE initiatives 8 Achieve an index of satisfaction with SCE within the Army Continuous Attitude Survey above 358 +358 +371 — 9 Ensure percentage of enquiries and/or requests answered within 10 working days of receipt 90% Achieved —
Annex B—Key Target 4: National curriculum assessment results— 1998 Percentage Subject/Key stage Target Achieved Variation English KS1 Teacher Assessment 87 87 0 Reading Test/Task 87 85 -2 Writing Test/Task 89 89 0 KS2 Teacher Assessment 68 71 +3 Test/Task 71 74 +3 KS3 Teacher Assessment 67 64 -3 Test/Task 73 80 +7 Maths KS1 Teacher Assessment 89 88 -1 Test/Task 89 90 +1 KS2 Teacher Assessment 71 71 0 Test/Task 73 68 -5 KS3 Teacher Assessment 71 71 0 Test/Task 68 70 +2 Science KS1 Teacher Assessment 90 88 -2 KS2 Teacher Assessment 72 74 +2 Test/Task 78 79 +1 KS3 Teacher Assessment 73 66 -7 Test/Task 74 67 -7