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Written question asked by Tim Loughton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 4 November 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 6 November 2008. It was answered by Baroness Hughes of Stretford (Labour) on Tuesday, 11 November 2008 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Pupils: Languages

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families according to the most recent school census, how many pupils in care had a language other than English as their first language.
Answer

The most recent census data relates to January 2008. The information requested from this census is shown in the table.The census shows 34,390 pupils aged five to 19 attending primary, secondary and special schools who are classed as being in care as at January 2008. Data published by the Department as SFR 23/2008: Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers) year ending 31 March 2008, shows 47,600 children aged between five and 19 as being looked after as at 31 March 2008. The school census does not cover all looked after children; information is not collected for pupils in alternative provision, including pupil referral units, FE colleges, voluntary provision and those not in education or training. These differences in coverage will explain the different counts to an extent, but it is possible that the school census undercounts the number of looked after children in primary, secondary and special schools.

Primary, secondary and special schools¹,²,³—number and percentage of pupils classified as being in care by their first language4: England as at January 2008
Pupils whose first language is classified as:
English Other than English Unclassified
Number of pupils Percentage Number of pupils Percentage Number of pupils Percentage
Pupils in care5 31,690 92.2 2,560 7.4 140 0.4
All pupils6 5,795,430 87.2 824,490 12.4 23,020 0.3
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed.
² Includes CTCs and academies.
³ Includes both maintained and non-maintained special schools, excludes general hospital schools.
4 Pupils of compulsory school age and over were classified by first language.
5 The number of pupils in care collected via the school census is known to be under-reported.
6 Headcount of pupils, including dual registrations, aged between five and 19 as at 31 August 2007.
Note:
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10.
Source:
School Census

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
482 c1073-4W; 234025
Session
2007-08
Subjects
Languages Pupils
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk