§ Fiona MactaggartTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will set out, with statistical information relating as directly as possible to the Slough constituency, the effects on Slough of his Department's policies and actions since 2 May 1997. [146929]
§ Mr. WillsOutlined are details of the effect on the Slough constituency and Slough LEA of a range of the Department's policies.
Sure Start
There is a Sure Start programme centred in the Britwell and Northborough area of Slough. There is a strong emphasis on parental involvement with equal representation on the partnership board. The programme addresses the need to reshape existing services as well as offering a wide range of new activities including support to teenage parents and a new Community Parents project to promote and enable positive health and parenting skills through local community involvement.
The programme has been granted funding of £1,643,508 until March 2003.
Education Action Zones
There is a large EAZ in Slough: 'Heart of Slough' Education Action Zone. EAZ grant payments to Slough EAZ comprise: contributions.
£ 1999–2000 169,000 2000–01 1627,000 2001–02 750,000 1 i.e.the zone forecast to need this amount this FY. 2 This figure assumes the EAZ raises &250,000 of private business contributions. Beacon Schools
The LEA has one Beacon school—Priory School (awarded Beacon status in September 1998).
Specialist Schools
There is one Specialist School in Slough—Herschel Technology College. The additional funding made available to Herschel (because of its Specialist School status) since 1997 comprises:
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£ 1997–98 73,370 1998–99 74,910 1999–2000 78,500
£ 2000–01 87,680 2001–02 188,560 1 Estimate-calculated from pupil numbers each year. This figure assumes same pupil numbers as 2000–01. Class sizes
Class sizes—Slough LEA £ Revenue Capital 1998–99 88,000 0 1999–2000 301,000 113,000 2000–01 322,721 676,000 The September 2000 figure shows that there are now only 95 (2.7 per cent.) pupils remaining in infant class sizes of 31 or more. The figure in January 1997 was 713 (19.8 per cent.).
Key Stage 2 results
Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in Key Stage 2 tests in Slough LEA:
English Maths Science 2000 74 70 84 1999 68 63 72 1998 65 53 63 GCSE/GNVQ results
Percentage 5 or more A*-C Percentage no passes 1998 1999 2000 1998 1999 2000 Slough 42.9 48.1 51.3 3.5 3.3 4.2 England 46.3 47.9 49.2 6.6 6.0 5.6 Funding
Capital (excluding NDS) £000 2001–02 2000–01 1999–2000 1998–99 ACG 375 246 180 74 SCA 0 70 50 45 VA Grant 407 118 80 60 Seed — 109 0 0 Capital Formula 0 796 0 0 NGfL 0 362 284 176 Science Labs 105 105 0 0 SSLUs 25 29 0 0 Access 116 0 0 0 Security 0 39 38 27 Outside toilets 0 0 0 0 Energy 0 0 0 20 AMP assistance 0 0 17 0 New Deal for Schools
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£ (As Berkshire) NDS 1 (1997–98) 761,000 NDS 2 (1998–99) 385,000 NDS 3 (1999–2000) 644,000 NDS 4 (2000–01) 1,622,000 School projects are described in the following table.
£ Name of school Project Allocation NDS 1 James Elliman Middle, Arbor Vale Special, Our Lady of Peace RC First, Slough and Eton CE Secondary, Montem Infants, Wexham Secondary, Baylis Court Nursery, Godolphin Infants, Littledown School Large package for urgent Health and Safety works 1761,000 NDS 2 Godolphin Infants Heating improvements 37,254 Lea Infants Heating improvements 18,576 Lea Middle Heating improvements 104,975 Montem Middle Heating improvements 18,576 Our Lady of Peace RC First Heating improvements 13,473 Our Lady of Peace RC Middle Heating improvements 30,875 Baylis Court Heating improvements 24,700 Beechwood Heating improvements 49,400 St. Bernard's Convent Heating improvements 23,465 NDS 3 Wexham Secondary, Slough and Eton CE Secondary Two school package for replacement of defective window frames 210,381 Marish Infant, William Penn Primary Two school package for replacement of defective and rotten windows 219,048 Arbor Vale Special Early years provision 17,028 NDS 4 Godolphin Junior Replacement of temporary classrooms 121,560 1 Total Berkshire LEA NDS 1 allocation
Student numbers at all FEFC funded institutions Where home postcode is in the local authority district of Slough, 1996–97 to 1999–2000 FEFC funded Non-FEFC funded 16–18 Adult 16–18 Adult Year FT PT FT PT FT PT FT PT 1996–97 1,175 371 242 4,725 19 34 35 121 1997–98 1,138 340 243 4,533 11 86 32 163 1998–99 1,082 380 449 4,325 38 113 67 909 1999–2000 974 453 552 4,385 16 123 46 732 Modern apprenticeships
Since 2 May 1997, we know of 801 starts on Modern Apprenticeships in the Slough constituency (as at 31 October 2000). Broken down by financial year these are:
Financial year Foundation modem apprenticeships1 Advanced modern apprenticeships2 Total 1997–98 1 127 128 1998–99 27 134 161 1999–2000 115 150 265 2000–01 (to date) 157 90 247 Total 300 501 801 1 Foundation Modern Apprenticeships, formerly known as National Traineeships, were introduced nationally in September 1997. 2 Advanced Modern Apprenticeships, formerly known as Modern Apprenticeships, were introduced nationally in September 1995. Note:
1. The Trainee Database System (TDS), from which these data are taken, is less complete than Management Information supplied to the Department by Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) (around 95 per cent.)
2. In addition, the postcode information on the TDS, from which parliamentary constituency data are compiled, are 95 per cent. complete.
3. TEC Management Information does not provide information at parliamentary constituency level.
Source:
WBTYP trainee database
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The working age employment rate in Slough UA in autumn 2000 was 77.8 per cent., above the UK rate of 74.7 per cent. The rate in autumn 1997 was 78.9 per cent., in autumn 1998 was 71.4 per cent., and in autumn 1999 was 77.7 per cent. As can be seen, these data are volatile and our best interpretation of the trend in the employment rate for Slough since 1997 is that it has been broadly flat.
The claimant unemployment rate has fallen from 3.2 per cent. in December 1997 to 2.1 per cent. in December 2000 in the constituency of Slough.
To the end of October 2000, 824 young people have joined the New Deal, with a total of 371 entering employment. 280 of these entered into sustained employment.