House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 11 July 2006 (pt 1575)

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Physical Education

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many and what proportion of children aged five to 16-years-old in the East Riding of Yorkshire take part in at least two hours of high-quality physical education and school sport each week; and if he will make a statement. [84655]

Jim Knight: Data from the 2004/05 survey of schools in school sport partnerships found that 80 per cent. of five to 16-year-olds in East Riding of Yorkshire took part in at least two hours high quality PE and school sport each week.

School Attendance

Mr. Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the rate of school attendance was in the East Riding of Yorkshire for 11 to 16 year olds in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [84656]

Jim Knight: Figures for the proportion of half days missed due to absence in maintained mainstream secondary schools in East Riding of Yorkshire local authority are given in the following table:

Percentage of half days missed in maintained mainstream secondary schools^{( 1)} in East Riding of Yorkshire local authority due to absence^{( 2, 3)}
	Percentage
	Authorised Absence	Unauthorised Absence
1997-98	7.7	0.9
1998-99	7.3	0.9
1999-00	7.2	0.9
2000-01	7.6	0.8
2001-02	7.16	0.89
2002-03	7.04	0.69
2003-04	6.93	0.67
2004-05	6.48	0.56
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ^{(2 )}Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. ^{(3 )}Local authority figures are only available to 1 decimal place prior to 20001-02.

Authorised absence is absence with permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes instances of absence for whicha satisfactory explanation has been provided (for example illness).

Unauthorised absence is absence without leave from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes all unexplained or unjustified absences, such as lateness, holidays during term time not authorised by the school, absence where reason is not yet established and truancy.

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the rate of school attendance was in Lancashire for 11 to 16 year olds in each year since 1997. [81797]

Jim Knight: Figures for the proportion of half days missed due to absence in maintained mainstream secondary schools in Lancashire Local Authority are given in the following table

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Percentage of half days missed in Maintained Mainstream Secondary Schools^{( 1)} in Lancashire Local Authority due to absence^{( 2,3)}
	Authorised absence	Unauthorised absence
1997-98	7.6	0.8
1998-99	7.8	0.9
1999-2000	7.5	0.8
2000-01	7.9	0.8
2001-02	7.75	0.82
2002-03	7.15	0.82
2003-04	7.25	0.88
2004-05	6.94	0.93
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. ^{(3 )}Local authority figures are only available to 1 decimal place prior to 20001-02.

Authorised absence is absence with permission from a teacher or other authorised representative of the school. This includes instances of absence for which a satisfactory explanation has been provided (for example illness).

School Closures

Chris Huhne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary schools have closed in (i) rural and (ii) non-rural areas in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [84636]

Jim Knight: Local authorities are responsible for balancing the supply and demand of places in their areas to ensure schools serve the needs of their local communities and provide good quality education in the most cost effective way. As part of this, they need to determine the numbers of schools they need, taking into account the views and aspirations of parents and other stakeholders. Since February 1998 there has been a presumption against the closure of rural schools. Although this does not mean that no rural school will ever close, the case for closure needs to be strong and clearly in the best interests of education provision in the area.

The numbers of primary and secondary schools that have closed in rural and urban areas each year since 1997 are listed in the following table:

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	Urban		Rural^{( 1)}
	Primary	Secondary	Primary	Secondary
1997	125	11	6	0
1998	115	11	5	0
1999	182	35	2	0
2000	99	7	2	0
2001	188	19	3	0
2002	189	18	5	0
2003	201	17	10	2
2004	205	31	7	2
2005	227	15	8	0
2006⁽²⁾	224	21	6	0
⁽¹⁾ The rural figures exclude amalgamations where two schools have been replaced by one new school on the same site. ⁽²⁾ The 2006 figures include schools that have been approved for closure during the current calendar year.

School Orchestras

Mr. Gibb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of secondary schools have a school orchestra. [84523]

Jim Knight: This information is not collected centrally.

Secondary School Pupils

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school age children normally resident in the west Lancashire district council area are being educated outside the local education authority area. [83566]

Jim Knight: The information requested has been provided in the following table.

	Number of pupils^{( 1 )} residing within West Lancashire Local Authority District	Number of pupils^{( 1)} residing within West Lancashire Local Authority Attending schools outside of the Local Authority District	Percentage of pupils^{( 1)} residing within West Lancashire Local Authority Attending schools outside of the Local Authority District
Primary⁽²⁾	7,739	437	5.6
Secondary⁽³⁾	7,233	981	13.5
Total	14,972	1,418	9.5
⁽¹⁾ Maintained Primary and secondary schools .includes pupils aged 5 to 15 years, solely registered or main registration of dually registered pupils, excludes boarders ⁽²⁾ Includes primary and middle deemed primary ⁽³⁾ Includes secondary and middle deemed secondary Source: Schools census 2006 provisional

Sure Start

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the performance of the Sure Start programme in west Lancashire in reaching new families and children in the relevant local area. [83636]

Beverley Hughes: There are three Sure Start children's centres up and running in west Lancashire offering services to 1,037 children under five and their families including 217 childcare places. We do not
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currently collect data on the number of families and children accessing children's centre services.

One of the Sure Start Children's centres in the west Lancashire constituency was based on the Tanhouse and Digmoor Sure Start Local Programme (SSLP) and data returns provided by the SSLP show the following information. The programme offers services to 520 children under four and their families. Between July 2002 and June 2003 the SSLP submitted monthly data returns reporting significant contact (that is, a home visit or attendance at a centre-based activity) with 200⁽¹⁾ new children. Between July 2003 and December 2004 the SSLP reported significant contact with an additional 75⁽²⁾ children.

Source:

⁽¹⁾ Sure Start Local Programme data returns July 2002 to June 2003.

⁽²⁾ Source: Sure Start Local Programme data returns July 2003 to December 2004. During this period data was collected quarterly and the figure records only new children seen in the months in which returns were submitted.

Teachers (Bristol)

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the pupil to teacher ratio was for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Bristol local education authority in (i) 1996-97 and (ii) the most recent school year for which figures are available. [84608]

Jim Knight: The following table shows the pupil to teacher ratio in maintained primary and secondary schools in Bristol local authority, January 1997 and January 2005 (the latest year for which information is available at local authority level). Information for England is also given to enable comparison.

It is anticipated that local authority level pupil to teacher ratios for January 2006 will become available in September.

Pupil:teacher ratios^{( 1)} in maintained primary and secondary schools in Bristol local authority and England, January 1997 and 2005
	Pupil:teacher ratio
	Primary		Secondary
	Bristol local authority	England	Bristol local authority	England
1997	23.0	23.4	15.6	16.7
2005	22.6	22.5	15.4	16.7
⁽¹⁾ The pupil:teacher ratio is the full-time equivalent number of pupils divided by the full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers. Dually registered pupils are excluded. Source: Annual School Census

Unauthorised Absence

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what percentage of half days were missed due to unauthorised absence in maintained schools in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset county and (c) the South West in each year since 1997. [83392]

Jim Knight: The percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence in maintained mainstream
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schools in (a) Yeovil constituency, (b) Somerset local authority and (c) the South West Government office region in each year since 1997-98 is as follows:

Percentage of half days missed in Maintained Mainstream Primary Schools^{( 1)} due to unauthorised absence^{( 2, 3)}
	Percentage
	Yeovil constituency	Somerset local authority	South West Government office region
1997-98	0.3	0.2	0.4
1998-99	0.2	0.2	0.4
1999-00	0.2	0.2	0.4
2000-01	0.3	0.3	0.4
2001-02	0.3	0.28	0.34
2002-03	0.3	0.27	0.32
2003-04	0.3	0.26	0.32
2004-05	0.4	0.32	0.33

Percentage of half days missed in Maintained Mainstream Secondary Schools^{( 1)} due to unauthorised absence^{( 2, 3)}
	Percentage
	Yeovil constituency	Somerset local authority	South West Government office region
1997-98	0.3	0.5	0.7
1998-99	0.4	0.5	0.7
1999-00	0.5	0.5	0.8
2000-01	0.6	0.5	0.8
2001-02	0.6	0.63	0.81
2002-03	0.6	0.63	0.81
2003-04	1.0	0.82	0.94
2004-05	1.3	1.01	1.03
⁽¹⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed. ⁽²⁾ Due to local government reorganisation, regional figures are not available prior to 1998. ^{(3 )}Local authority and Government Office Region figures are only available to 1 decimal place prior to 2001-02. Constituency level figures are only available to 1 decimal place.

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