Written question asked by Anne Milton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 15 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 17 November 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 November 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Schools

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what her Department's target is for the number of specialist schools in (a) Surrey and (b) England;

Answer: Local authorities are not required to set targets for the number of specialist schools however 79 per cent. of schools in Surrey have already achieved specialist status (greater than the national average of 75 per cent.) with more planned. Our national target is that 95 per cent. of maintained secondary schools will be specialist or Academies by 2008.To date over 2,600 schools in England have applied for specialist status including 42 in Surrey.The following is the breakdown by specialism of schools which have been granted specialist school status:(a) In Surrey there are 41 specialist schools:"Arts (4), Business and Enterprise (4), Language (3), Maths and Computing (5), Music (2), Science (4), Sports (4), and Technology (15)."(b) In England there are 2,380 specialist schools:"Arts (385), Business and Enterprise (201), Engineering (41), Humanities (60), Language (213), Maths and Computing (206), Music (15), Science (269), Sports (334), Technology (574), Combined (70) and SEN specialism (12)."There are two Leading Edge Partnerships in Surrey. Seven schools participate in the partnerships and six of these are specialist.

Secondary information