HC Deb 25 March 2003 vol 402 cc143-4W
Mr. Win Griffiths

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students pursued A-level courses in(a) the public and (b) the private sector in each of the last five years; and what the average cost was to public funds of providing a place in each sector. [103311]

Mr. Miliband

The number of students who pursued A-level courses in(a) the public sector and (b) private sector in each of the last five years are as follows:

Type of institution 1996–97 1997–98 1598–99 1999–2000 2000–01
(a) Public sector
Maintained schools 98,361 103,337 104,457 104,786 111,204
FE Sector 62,299 62,409 60,146 57,912 59,352
Total 162,657 167,744 166,602 164,698 172,557
(b) Private sector
Independent schools 29,682 29,867 26,649 28,578 28,777

The figures above are based on those students who were 17 years old at the beginning of the academic year in question.

The following figures represent a range of funding per full-time student in different parts of the public sector. They are not directly comparable as they are not calculated on the same basis. The FE unit funding figure includes total public funding allocated for FE, while the schools' figures are based only on delegated funds and exclude other funding that schools receive centrally from LEAs that impact on post-16 students.

Unit of funding in FE
£
Total unit of funding
1996–97* 3,050
1997–98* 3,070
1998–99* 3,120
1999–2000* 3,440
2000–01** 3,540
* Actual
** Provisional

Unit of funding in schools
£
Total unit of funding
1996–97* 3,200
1997–98* 3,240
1998–99* 3,370
1999–2000* 3,500
2000–01* 3,890
* Estimate

Percentage distribution of mode of provision of education for excluded pupils—England
March 20001 September 20012
Key Stages 1 and 2 Key Stages 3 Key stage 4 Total Key Stage 1 and 2 Key Stage 3 Key Stage 4 Total
Pupil Referral Unit 40.8 45.1 39.1 41.0 44.7 51.0 46.6 47.6
Home Tuition 32.3 24.0 11.0 16.8 30.8 20.3 9.6 14.1
Voluntary Sector 0.2 0.1 0.8 0.5 0.0 0.8 1.5 1.2
FE College 0.4 9.8 6.2 0.1 12.8 8.4

There is no equivalent information available for the private sector.