Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were adopted in Brighton and Hove over the last five years for which figures are available; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The data requested is shown in the table below and is also published in Table LAE1 of the ‘Children looked after including adoption’ statistical first release [1].
Number of looked after children adopted in Brighton and Hove local authority [1]
Years ending 31 March 2010 to 2014
Number of looked after children adopted during the year | |||||
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | |
Brighton and Hove | 30 | 25 | 25 | 50 | 40 |
Source: SSDA903
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption--2
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how often her Department reviews its processes regarding the logging of emails, letters and other correspondence received; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education’s process for logging and allocating email and hard copy correspondence has been subjected to ongoing review and improvement over the last four years. A detailed process review was completed recently and more efficient arrangements put in place as part of preparations for the introduction of a new IT system. That system is due to be implemented over the next few months.
The Department aims to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days. Cabinet Office guidance on handling correspondence from Members of Parliament, Members of the House of Lords, MEPs and Members of devolved administrations is available online at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/61196/guide-handling-gov-correspondence.pdf
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many secondary schools have at least one trained music teacher; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Published figures show there were an estimated total of 7,300 teachers teaching music in publicly funded secondary schools in England in November 2013, of whom 86.7% held a relevant post A-level qualification in music. These figures are correct to within a margin of plus or minus 1.0% (73 teachers).
This national estimate is based on a large sample of secondary schools. Of the schools in that sample, 86% employed at least one teacher of music (on a headcount basis) with a relevant post A-level qualification in music.[1] The estimate excludes self-employed and peripatetic music teachers who have a contract with the school for less than 28 days.
[1] Relevant post A-level qualification includes: a degree in music, a bachelor of education or a post graduate certificate of education (PGCE) or any other qualification recognised at National Qualification Framework level 4 or level 5 in music. A music teacher whose training was outside one of these routes would not count as having a relevant post A-level qualification.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the number of trained music teachers in England; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education does not collect data on the number of trained music teachers in primary schools in England.
There were 7,300 teachers teaching music in publicly funded secondary schools in England in November 2013, of whom 86.7% had a post A-level qualification in music. These figures are correct to within a margin of plus or minus 1%.
This information is taken from the School Workforce Census and excludes self-employed and peripatetic music teachers who have a contract with a school for less than 28 days. The estimate also excludes music provision in primary schools.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage the study of music in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government recognises the importance of music as an integral part of children’s development, and believes strongly that every child should experience a good quality music education at both primary and secondary school.
We have therefore confirmed the place of music as a statutory subject within the new national curriculum for all children in maintained schools between key stages 1 to 3. The revised programmes of study include an increased focus on learning to play a musical instrument and singing, pupils learning to read and write notation, the historical development of music, and the work of great composers.
Music also remains within the arts entitlement area within the national curriculum at key stage 4. Maintained schools must provide access to at least one course in each entitlement area. The total number of music entries in key stage 4 exams has risen by 7% since 2010.
We have committed around £390 million in the years 2012-16 for music education programmes. This includes £246 million for 123 music education hubs which have core roles to ensure every child aged 5-18 has the opportunity to learn a musical instrument through whole-class ensemble teaching, provide opportunities to play in ensembles and to perform from an early stage, ensure clear progression routes are available and affordable to all young people, and to develop a singing strategy for their area.
Arts Council England, which manages the hubs on our behalf, introduced a new requirement earlier this year for each hub to set up a School Music Education Plan. These plans must demonstrate how music hubs intend to increase their engagement with the schools in their local area, how they will provide support to schools in their provision of a high-quality music curriculum, and how they will challenge schools to improve where this is needed.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many primary schools have at least one trained music teacher; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not collected centrally.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many private finance initiative projects her Department contracted for in each year from 1997 to 2010.
Answered by David Laws
The Department for Education has not entered into any private finance contracts.
The Department has, however, approved 171 private finance schools contracts entered into by other bodies, such as local authorities. Details of these contracts are published online: www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-projects-2013-summary-data
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the total private finance initiative liabilities of her Department are for the next 20 years; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education sponsors local authority projects through the private finance initiative (PFI) credit system and is paying revenue support grant. It also contributes revenue support towards Voluntary Aided school PFI schemes. However, these are not the Department’s liabilities.
Details of these projects are available online at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/private-finance-initiative-projects-2013-summary-data.
This currently provides information as at 31 March 2013 but will be updated shortly with data as at 31 March 2014.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to reduce energy costs in her Department; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department for Education has already made excellent progress in reducing its energy costs by £1.4 million per annum since 2009-10 to 2013-14. This is despite the cost of energy increasing during the same period.
The Department has achieved this primarily through low and no cost energy efficiency measures, a reduction in the size of the Department’s estate and a small number of capital investments. These measures have also contributed to a reduction in associated greenhouse gas emissions of 44% during the same period.
Plans to reduce energy costs further include: continuing to refine building (energy) management system programmes; conducting annual audits of all key plant and equipment to identify cost-effective options for asset replacement and enhancement; staff awareness campaigns; monitoring and targeting unexpected building energy profiles through automated meter reading devices across the estate; and estate rationalisation and co-location.
Asked by: Simon Kirby (Conservative - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review her departmental estate in order to reduce costs; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Since May 2010, the Department for Education has reduced the size of its estate from 30 properties, at a cost of circa £51 million per annum, to six properties costing circa £31 million per annum. This is a saving of £20 million per annum.
In 2012, the Department announced an ambitious programme to reduce its estate from 12 sites to six, while maximising the efficiency of the buildings retained. This has now been achieved by reducing the amount of space we use, by surrendering unwanted facilities to landlords and through sub-letting vacant space to other organisations.
We also plan to vacate Sanctuary Buildings at lease expiry in 2017 and relocate to a Government owned freehold building, which will generate a further saving of circa £8.5 million per annum.
The Department is always looking to maximise the efficiency of its estate and we are currently working with the Cabinet Office’s Government Property Unit to update our Strategic Asset Management Plan.