§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in the UK specialise in teaching those who are hard of hearing; what funding is afforded to them; where sign language is taught in state schools; and if he will make a statement. [128251]
§ Mr. MilibandThe Department does not hold this information for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. In England, there are 1,088 maintained special schools, of which 13 have hearing impairment as their primary category of need, and three have hearing impairment as their secondary category of need. In addition, there are eight non-maintained special schools which specialise in hearing impairment.
According to a survey conducted by the British Association of Teachers of the Deaf (BATOD) in 2000, of the 25,019 children taught by teachers of the deaf, 67 per cent. were in mainstream schools, 14 per cent. in units attached to mainstream schools, and 19 per cent. in special schools.
In maintained special schools, funding is usually related to a set number of places, with the individual place cost determined by the complexity of learning needs that the school has to address. The average budget share for a pupil in a maintained special school is £10,800. Government support for non-maintained special schools comes primarily from the Devolved Capital Formula, the Standards Fund and School Standards Grant.
The Department does not hold records centrally indicating where sign bilingualism is taught in schools. However, the BATOD survey suggested that sign bilingualism was used by 6 per cent. of children (601 in schools for the deaf and 410 in units attached to mainstream schools).