HC Deb 27 February 2002 vol 380 cc1294-5W
Mr. Stevenson

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of 16-year-olds have opted to continue into(a) further and (b) higher education in the Stoke-on-Trent local education authority in each of the last four years. [37270]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time and part-time education for Stoke-on-Trent LEA in the three years for which data are available is as follows. Prior to 1997–98 Stoke on Trent LEA was part of Staffordshire LEA.

Percentage of 16-year-olds participating in full-time and part-time education1: Stoke-on-Trent LEA
Full-time education Part-time education
1997–98 49 9
1998–99 52 8
1999–2000 58 7
1 Includes participation in schools, sixth form colleges and further education colleges

Corresponding data for participation in full-time higher education by the same age cohort two years later are as follows.

Percentage of 18-year-olds from Stoke-on-Trent LEA accepted for entry to full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses1
Number
1999–2000 11
2000–01 13
2001–02 16
1 Defined as the number of 18-year-olds from Stoke accepted for entry to full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses via UCAS, as a proportion of the 17-year-old population in Stoke the previous year

In 1999–2000 Stoke-on-Trent became one of the original 15 LEAs to be piloted for the roll-out of Education Maintenance Allowances. National evaluation of EMA shows it to have had a beneficial effect on post-16 participation. Participation rates by LEA for 16 and 17-year-olds are published in an annual statistical bulletin, "Participation in Education and Training by Young People aged 16 and 17 in Each Local Area and Region, England".