HC Deb 10 May 2004 vol 421 cc49-53W
Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teacher vacancies there were in Stockton, South on the latest date for which figures are available; and what steps are being taken to reduce them. [171450]

Mr. Miliband

Information on teacher vacancies is not available by constituency as it is collected at local education authority level. In January 2003, the latest information available, there were seven full-time teacher vacancies in Stockton-on-Tees local education authority.

Like other areas, since 1997 Stockton-on-Tees has benefited from the initiatives that the Government have put in place to recruit and retain teachers and to increase the number of staff supporting them in schools. Since 1997, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers in maintained schools in the Stockton-on-Tees LEA area has risen by 110, from 1,650 to 1,760 in 2003. Over the same period, the number of full-time equivalent school support staff in the area has grown by 340 from 460 to 800 in 2003.

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many teaching assistants there were in schools in Stockton South in(a) each of the last seven years and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [171451]

Mr. Miliband

The following table gives the numbers of full time equivalent teaching assistants in maintained schools in the Stockton South constituency in January of each year. between 1997 and 2003, the latest year for which data are available.

Number
1997 90
1998 90
1999 100
2000 120
2001 160
2002 110
2003 150
Source:
Annual Schools' Census

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the effects on schools of changes since 1997 in the level of investment in school sports in Stockton South. [171470]

Mr. Stephen Twigg

The information is not held in the format requested. Within the context of the statutory National Curriculum, where Physical Education (PE) is compulsory for pupils aged five-16, it is for individual schools to use their budgets as they judge appropriate.

The Government is investing more than £1 billion in England to transform PE, school sport and club links. The funding will help deliver an ambitious Public Service Agreement target, shared with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, to increase the percentage of five-16 year olds who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent. by 2006.

The Department is providing £751,475 to support the delivery of a School Sport Partnership in the Stockton-on-Tees area. The partnership includes five secondary and 25 primary schools and provides enhanced sports opportunities for all young people to ensure that their pupils spend a minimum of two hours a week on high quality PE and School Sport. A key objective for all School Sport Partnerships is to ensure that the improvements and enhanced opportunities that they deliver are sustainable and embedded within schools to ensure a lasting legacy. The New Opportunities Fund has provided schools in the Stockton-on-Tees LEA area with over £2.4 million specifically to enhance PE and school sport facilities.

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of 15 and 16-year-olds in Stockton, South achieved five or more GCSEs at Grade A* to C or GNVQ equivalent in each of the last seven years. [171471]

Mr. Miliband

The information requested is as follows:

Percentage of 15-year-old pupils1achieving five or more grades A* to C
Percentage
Academic year Stockton, South England
1997 42.9 45.1
1998 44.0 46.3
1999 43.6 47.9
2000 45.9 49.2
2001 49.8 50.0
2002 48.6 51.6
2003 51.8 52.9
1GCSE/GNVQ results are reported as standard as the results of pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year ie 31 August and therefore reaching the end of compulsory education at the end of the school year.

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in Stockton, South deemed to be failing since 1997 have since reached satisfactory standards. [171473]

Mr. Miliband

No schools in Stockton, South have been deemed to be failing since 1997.

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children in Stockton, South have benefited from the Excellence in Cities programme; and what the per pupil spending was in each year since the programme's inception. [171475]

Mr. Miliband

The following table shows the number of children in Stockton, South benefiting from EiC, and the annual spend per pupil for the years in question.

Number of children Total EiC expenditure1(£) Spend per pupil (£)
2000–01 8,196 574,495 70.09
2001–02 8,219 1,148,283 139.71
2002–03 8,238 1,700,191 206.38
2003–04 8,295 2,585,332 311.67
1All funding figures supplied by Stockton Finance Office.

Table A: Stockton LEA capital allocations
£000
Type 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–051 2005–061
Assistance with AMPs 26
Basic L C Vap 39 229 300
Basic need 165 702 1,209 1,524 341 82 2,069 3,035 1,393
City Learning Centres 85 2,381
Class size initiative 384 174 185 103 5
Condition 1,439 2,218 2,863
Devolved formula 1,383 1,118 1,709 2,662 2,233
Energy 64
Modernisation (Primary) 821
Modernisation LEA 668
Modernisation LEA 769 1,318 1,336 1,887
Modernisation VA 162 431 846 497
NDS 1 531
NDS 2 358
NDS 3 1,374
NDS 4 2,704
Nursery provision 61
Outside toilets 10
Pathfinder schools 61
Private finance initiative 6,400
School labs 145 145
School security 52 65 65 64 45 39
Schools access initiative 13 69 100 140 224 288 426 316 311
Seed challenge 152 165 267 265 258
Specialist schools 450
Staff workspace 59 113
Supplementary credit approvals 87 73 2,012 84 338
Targeted capital funding 653 1,411 1,570
Voluntary aided school grant 135 213 1,110 1,914 923 846
Total 983 1,938 6,520 7,541 13,661 7,387 11,858 11,083 4,088
1Further allocations to be announced.

Table B: NDS allocations to schools in the Stockton South constituency
£
School Project details Grant awarded
1997–98 Egglescliffe Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Replacement of mobiles LEA-wide grant 531,0001
Conyers School Replacement of mobiles LEA-wide grant 531,0001
Ian Ramsey Church of England Aided Comprehensive School Improve IT suite LEA-wide grant 531,0001

The large increase in the rate of EiC funding in 2002£03 is due to the extra funding provided through the Behaviour Improvement Programme and the increase in 2003–04 is due to the introduction of the Leadership Incentive Grant.

Ms Dari Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how much public funding money has been spent on repairing schools in Stockton South in each year since 1997; [171476]

(2) how much funding each school in Stockton South has received from the, New Deal for Schools. [171474]

Mr. Miliband

The majority of capital support is allocated to schools and local education authorities (LEAs) by formula, and they decide how to invest it in line with their asset management plans. The Department does not, therefore, have complete information about capital investment at constituency level. Table A sets out the capital support given by the Government to Stockton LEA since 1997–98, in total and by programme, Including devolved formula capital grants to each school. Table B shows the schools in the Stockton South constituency that benefited from investment through the New Deal for Schools (NDS) programme, which ran between 1997–98 and 2000–01.

Table B. NDS allocations to schools in the Stockton South constituency
£
School Project details Grant awarded
1998–99 Westlands School Hot water temperature controls to baths 1,464
St. Mark's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School, Stockton Hot water source controls 4,544
1999–2000 St. Mark's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School, Stockton Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installations) 39,200
St. Cuthbert's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installations) 47,040
Preston Primary School Asbestos removal Project including 11 schools 430,8462
Harewood Infant School Asbestos removal Project including 11 schools 430,846M2
The Links Primary School Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installation) Project including 10 schools 545,8012
Oxbridge Lane Primary School Asbestos removal Project including 11 schools 430,8462
Egglescliffe Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installation) Project including 10 schools 545,8012
St. Cuthbert's RC Voluntary Aided Primary School Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installation) Project including 10 schools 545,8012
St. Mark's Church of England Voluntary Aided Junior School, Stockton Boiler plant replacement (single boiler installation) Project including 10 schools 545,8012
2000–01 Conyers School Replacement of 11 temporary classrooms 1,021,668
St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Primary School, Thornaby Replacement of asbestos roof tiles 16,430
Preston Primary School Replacement of obsolete/leaking Project including 10 schools 678,8002
Christ The King RC Primary School Replacement of obsolete/leaking boilerplant and asbestos insulation Project including 10 schools 678,8002
Egglescliffe School Replacement of obsolete/leaking boilerplant and asbestos insulation Project including 10 schools 678,8002
Grangefield School Replacement of obsolete/leaking boilerplant and asbestos insulation Project including 10 schools 678,8002
Ian Ramsey Church of England Aided Comprehensive School Replacement of obsolete/leaking boilerplant and asbestos insulation Project including 10 schools 678,8002
1For NDS 1 grant was allocated for Stock, ton LEA-wide projects, part of which was used for work at each of three schools in the Stockton South constituency. The LEA will be able to say how much was allocated to each school.
2Allocations shown are the totals for packages of projects within Stockton LEA which included the schools shown that are in the Stockton South constituency. The LEA will be able to say how much was allocated to each school.