My right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families (Mr Ed Balls) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
The first five new diplomas will be available from September 2008 and will be in construction and the built environment; creative and media; engineering; information technology; and society, health and development. We announced last March that over 800 schools and over 150 colleges would be in the first consortia offering 14 to 19 diplomas from September 2008.
A breakdown of consortia offering the first five lines by region and local authority is shown in Table 1. The forecast first-year diploma funding for each region in 2008-09 is set out in Table 2, subject to final pupil numbers for each region.
The next five diplomas will be available from September 2009 and will be in manufacturing and product design; business, administration and finance; land-based and environmental studies; hair and beauty; and hospitality. We can now announce that two-thirds of all secondary schools and three-quarters of colleges in England have applied to offer these five new diplomas, plus the first five diplomas, as part of consortia from September 2009.
These figures show that diplomas are proving a popular choice for schools and colleges. Diplomas will offer learners a new route into further and higher education as well as into skilled work. In December, the independent organisation UCAS announced that the points value of the advanced diploma will be the same as that awarded for three and a half A-levels.
Table 1
GO Local Authority No. of Consortia in LA No. of Schools in Consortium in LA No. of Colleges in Consortium in LA EE Cambridgeshire 1 7 2 EE Hertfordshire 3 28 3 EE Luton 1 6 1 EE Norfolk 2 9 1 EE Southend-on-Sea 1 5 1 EE Suffolk 1 4 1 EM Derby 1 2 1 EM Nottingham 1 11 4 EM Derbyshire 1 4 0 EM Leicestershire 2 10 2 EM Lincolnshire 6 25 5 EM Northamptonshire 3 9 3 EM Nottinghamshire 4 30 5 EM Rutland 1 2 2 L Barking and Dagenham 1 8 1 L Bromley 1 5 1 L Croydon 1 4 2 L Ealing 1 17 2 L Hackney 3 6 5 L Hammersmith and Fulham 1 3 0 L Haringey 1 3 0 L Harrow 1 4 1 L Hillingdon 1 8 1 L Hounslow 1 3 0 L Islington 1 8 1 L Lambeth 1 7 2 L Lewisham 1 6 2 L Newham 1 15 2 L Southwark 1 6 2 L Tower Hamlets 1 6 1 L Waltham Forest 1 18 3 L Wandsworth 1 3 1 NE Durham 1 1 1 NE Gateshead 1 1 1 NE Hartlepool 1 2 1 NE Middlesbrough 1 4 1 NE Newcastle Upon Tyne 1 6 1 NE North Tyneside 1 11 1 NE Sunderland 1 18 1 NW Blackburn with Darwen 1 1 1 NW Bolton 1 11 2 NW Bury 1 7 1 NW Cheshire 3 16 2 NW Cumbria 1 9 2 NW Halton 1 6 1 NW Knowsley 1 7 1 NW Lancashire 4 21 5 NW Liverpool 1 8 1 NW Manchester 1 11 2 NW Oldham 1 5 1 NW Rochdale 1 3 1 NW Salford 1 10 3 NW Sefton 1 3 1 NW St Helens 1 3 2 NW Tameside 1 5 1 NW Trafford 1 3 0 NW Warrington 1 4 2 SE Brighton & Hove 1 10 2 SE Buckinghamshire 2 2 1 SE East Sussex 5 5 1 SE Hampshire 3 24 4 SE Kent 4 13 3 SE Medway 1 11 2 SE Milton Keynes 1 3 1 SE Oxfordshire 2 6 1 SE Reading 1 6 0 SE Surrey 5 19 5 SE West Sussex 2 3 2 SW Plymouth 1 9 1 SW Cornwall 1 8 2 SW Dorset 3 13 5 SW Gloucestershire 1 2 1 SW North Somerset 1 14 1 SW Somerset 1 4 1 SW South Gloucestershire 1 6 1 SW Swindon 1 8 1 SW Torbay 1 2 1 SW Wiltshire 1 3 1 WM Birmingham 4 21 6 WM Coventry 2 6 1 WM Dudley 1 3 1 WM Shropshire 1 2 1 WM Solihull 1 6 2 WM Staffordshire 3 10 1 WM Stoke-on-Trent 1 7 1 WM Walsall 1 2 1 WM Wolverhampton 1 13 1 WM Worcestershire 2 16 1 Y&H Barnsley 1 8 2 Y&H Bradford 1 7 1 Y&H Calderdale 1 10 1 Y&H Kingston upon Hull 1 15 3 Y&H York 1 6 1 Y&H Kirklees 1 27 4 Y&H Leeds 2 15 2 Y&H North East Lincolnshire 1 2 0 Y&H North Yorkshire 1 4 0 Y&H Rotherham 1 6 1 Y&H Sheffield 1 17 2 Y&H Wakefield 1 1 0
Table 2
Local Authority No. of Consortia in Government Office Region No. of Schools in Consortium in Government Office Region No. of Colleges in Consortium in Government Office Region Key Stage 4 funding for Diplomas in Government Office Region East of England 9 59 9 £2.3 million East Midlands 19 93 22 £2.6 million London 20 130 27 £5.2 million North East 7 43 7 £1.4 million North West 23 133 29 £4.3 million South East 27 102 22 £3.5 million South West 12 61 13 £3.3 million West Midlands 17 86 16 £2.1 million Yorkshire and The Humber 13 118 17 £1.8 million NB. Figures shown above are based upon early estimates of student take-up of diplomas. When take-up numbers have been confirmed the funding may change accordingly.