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Written question asked by Lord Goodman of Wycombe (Conservative) on Monday, 23 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 25 February 2009. It was answered by Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Labour) on Thursday, 5 March 2009 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Children: English Language

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what support his Department provides to children who do not speak English as a first language; and how much that support (a) cost in each of the last five years and (b) is expected to cost in the next three years, broken down by type of expenditure.
Answer

All pupils of school age, including those for whom English is an additional language (EAL), are supported by the core school funding programmes notably Dedicated School Grant (DSG) which totals £29 billion this year. In addition the Department allocates to all local authorities on a needs-based formula Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG), which contributes towards costs of additional support to meet the specific needs of EAL learners. The total grant paid or allocated for each year from 2003-04 to the end of this spending period is as follows:

EMAG (£ million)
2003-04 155.8
2004-05 162.1
2005-06 168.5
2006-07 173.6
2007-08 178.6
2008-09 187.6
2009-10 197.6
2010-11 206.6

In addition, an Exceptional Circumstances Grant (ECG) has been introduced to reflect in-year changes in local authorities' pupil numbers. It has three elements covering: an increase of 2.5 per cent. in overall pupil numbers; an increase of 2.5 per cent. in the proportion of pupils with English as an additional language; and a one-off payment to any authority whose proportion of such pupils was below 10 per cent. and rises by 2.5 per cent. In the current year a total of £264,000 has been paid to four local authorities (City of London, Barking and Dagenham, Peterborough and Blackburn with Darwen) in response to qualifying increases in their proportions of EAL children.It is not possible to disaggregate DSG, EMAG or ECG expenditure by type.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
488 c1824-5W; 258984
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Languages Pupils
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk