Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government plans to take to increase (a) childhood and (b) adult literacy rates in (i) Copeland constituency and (ii) Cumbria.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The government is committed to improving standards of literacy in both children and adults. Good literacy is the foundation for all achievement in education and critical for work and everyday life. We have set a clear expectation that achieving a good level of English should be the norm.
The reformed national curriculum for English introduced last year puts a much greater emphasis on reading, ensuring that children study a range of books, poems and plays and encouraging them to read widely for pleasure, in school and at home. In years 1 and 2 the curriculum places a renewed focus on the requirement for children to learn to read through systematic phonics, as evidence shows this is the most effective approach to teaching early reading to all children. To boost the quality of phonics teaching, £23.7 million in match funding was provided during the last Parliament to over 14,000 primary schools, enabling them to buy systematic synthetic phonics products and training. A phonics screening check has also been introduced to help teachers identify children who may need extra support to develop their phonic knowledge. The proportion of 6-year-olds achieving the expected standards in the phonics screening check has risen from 58% to 74% between 2012 and 2014. That is equivalent to 102,000 more children reading more effectively than in 2012.
Key stage 2 results are also improving and the percentage of pupils reaching or exceeding the expected standard in reading at the end of primary school increased by three percentage points from 2013, to 89%.
For pupils who do not reach the expected level in reading by the end of primary school, we have introduced the Year 7 literacy and numeracy Catch-up Premium. This funding – £500 per pupil – enables secondary schools to deliver additional support for those pupils that most need it.
We believe these measures are the best way to tackle low levels of childhood literacy in all parts of the country including Cumbria and Copeland.
Qualifications have also been reformed and the new English language GCSE, which will be taught from September, has more emphasis on those skills demanded by employers. 20% of marks are now given for accurate and fluent use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Young people who do not achieve grade C or above in their English GCSE by the age of 16 are now required to continue to study those subjects. From August 2015, all 16-19 full-time students who have a grade D in their English GCSE will be expected to retake the exam as part of their college course.
The government’s traineeships programme for young people also puts English at its core, alongside work preparation and work experience. All apprentices without a good GCSE or equivalent in English are now required to work towards one as part of the programme.
This government also fully funds all adults to achieve an English GCSE if they have not yet achieved this qualification.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) childhood and (b) adult literacy rate was in (i) Copeland constituency and (ii) Cumbria in each of the last 10 years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not hold the requested information requested as we do not calculate childhood and adult literacy rates.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each ward in Copeland borough and Crummock, Dalton, Derwent Valley and Keswick wards in Allerdale borough (a) were eligible for and (b) received free school meals in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Laws
Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is not published at borough level.
Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals at local authority and regional level is published in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics: January 2014’ Statistical First Release.[1] Tables 8a to 8d of the release show information for pupils in primary, secondary and special schools, as well as pupil referral units. Information for 2010 to 2013 can be found in previous versions of this release.[2]
[1] www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2014
[2] www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in each ward in Copeland constituency (a) were eligible for and (b) received free school meals in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Laws
Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals is not published at parliamentary constituency level.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the current status is of schools placed in special measures in (a) Copeland and (b) Cumbria; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There is one school judged to require special measures in Copeland. There are 12 schools in special measures in Cumbria.
Of these 12 schools, nine have received HMI monitoring visits where they have been judged to be either making reasonable progress or their plans are fit for purpose. Two schools are awaiting monitoring visits.
The Interim Executive Board of Walney School has voted to become an academy on 1 September 2014, sponsored by Queen Katherine Academy Trust. The school was granted an Academy Order in April 2014.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teaching assistant training posts have been (a) commissioned and (b) filled in in (i) Copeland and (ii) Cumbria in the latest period for which figures are available.
Answered by David Laws
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications for free schools have been made in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria in each of the last two years.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department has not received any applications for free schools in Copeland. We have received one application from Cumbria within the last two years, which was successful.
Asked by: Jamie Reed (Labour - Copeland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teaching assistants have been employed in schools in (a) Copeland constituency and (b) Cumbria in each of the last five years.
Answered by David Laws
The following table provides the head count and full-time equivalent (FTE) number of teaching assistants in service in publicly-funded schools in Copeland constituency, Cumbria local authority (LA) and England in each year from January 2008 to 2009 and November 2010 to 2012 (the latest information available). Data for 2013 will be available in July and will be accessible from the following web link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-workforce-in-england-november-2013
Copeland Constituency | Cumbria LA | England | ||||||
Head Count | FTE | Head Count | FTE | Head Count | FTE | |||
November[1] | ||||||||
2012 | 292 | 206.0 | 2,221 | 1,497.3 | 340,480 | 231,319.5 | ||
2011 | 293 | 208.5 | 2,173 | 1,465.5 | 323,150 | 216,779.5 | ||
2010 | 324 | 185.7 | 2,339 | 1,342.2 | 341,168 | 180,923.0 | ||
January[2] | ||||||||
2009 | 348 | 258.1 | 2,430 | 1,584.0 | 264,215 | 183,701.7 | ||
2008 | 350 | 250.1 | 2,559 | 1,541.5 | 259,283 | 176,995.0 | ||
[1] Source: School Workforce Census.
[2] Source: School Census.