The Department is responsible for the following PSA targets, each of which were agreed between the former Department for Education and Skills and HM Treasury as part of the 2004 Spending Review:
1. Improve children's communication and social and emotional development so that by 2008 53 per cent. of children reach a good level of development at the end of the Foundation Stage; and reduce inequalities between the level of development achieved by children in the 30 per cent. most disadvantaged Super Output Areas and the rest of England by four percentage points from 16 per cent. to 12 per cent. (Joint with the Department for Work and Pensions)
2. As a contribution to reducing the proportion of children living in households where no-one is working, by 2008: increase the stock of Ofsted-registered childcare by 10 per cent.; increase the number of children in lower-income working families using formal childcare by 120,000; and introduce by April 2005 a successful light-touch child care approval scheme. (Joint with the Department for Work and Pensions)
3. Reduce the under-18 conception rate by 50 per cent. by 2010 as part of a broader strategy to improve sexual health. (Joint with the Department of Health)
4. Halt the year-on-year rise in obesity among children under 11 by 2010 in the context of a broader strategy to tackle obesity in the population as a whole. (Joint with the Department of Health and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
5. Narrow the gap in educational achievement between looked after children and that of their peers; and improve their educational support and the stability of their lives so that by 2008 80 per cent. of children under 16 who have been looked after for 2.5 or more years will have been living in the same placement for at least two years, or are placed for adoption.
6. Raise standards in English and mathematics so that: by 2006, 85 per cent. of 11-year-olds achieve level 4 or above, with this level of performance sustained to 2008; and by 2008 the proportion of schools in which fewer than 65 per cent. of pupils achieve level 4 or above is reduced by 40 per cent.
7. Raise standards in English, mathematics, ICT and science in secondary education so that: by 2007 85 per cent. of 14-year-olds achieve level 5 or above in English, mathematics and ICT (80 per cent. in science) nationally, with this level of performance sustained to 2008; and by 2008 in all schools at least 50 per cent. of pupils achieve level 5 or above in English, mathematics and science.
8. Improve levels of school attendance so that by 2008, school absence is reduced by 8 per cent. compared to 2003.
9. Enhance the take-up of sporting opportunities by 5 to 16-year-olds so that the percentage of school children in England who spend a minimum of two hours each week on high quality PE and sport within and beyond the curriculum increases from 25 per cent. in 2002 to 75 per cent. by 2006 and to 85 per cent. by 2008, and to at least 75 per cent. in each School Sport Partnership by 2008. (Joint with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
10. By 2008, 60 per cent. of those aged 16 to achieve the equivalent of 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C; and in all schools at least 20 per cent. of pupils to achieve this standard by 2004, rising to 25 per cent. by 2006 and 30 per cent. by 2008.
11. Increase the proportion of 19-year-olds who achieve at least level 2 by three percentage points between 2004 and 2006; and a further two percentage points between 2006 and 2008, and increase the proportion of young people who achieve level 3.
12. Reduce the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) by two percentage points by 2010.