Specialised Diplomas

Mr. Laws
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many maintained schools enrolled no pupils on a diploma course in the most recent year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Iain Wright
It is estimated that 78 per cent. (2,342) of maintained mainstream schools did not register any diploma learners on the Diploma Aggregation Service (DAS) during 2008/09. Published data on 2008/09 Diploma participation are obtained from the QCDA's DAS, which is used to award diplomas. Schools do not have to register learners on DAS until just before they intend to claim an award. It is possible that there are a number of schools who were delivering diplomas in 2008/09 who did not register any learners on DAS during 2008/09. Similarly, there will be schools which, as members of a diploma consortium, are participating in the delivery of diplomas, but if they are not the ‘Home Centre’ they will not have learners registered on DAS. The ‘Home Centre’ is the lead educational institution in the diploma consortium which is responsible for registering the diploma learner on DAS.

Information on the number of schools in 2009/10 currently delivering the diploma is not yet available.