Dear Sir or Madam,

I request the amount of money, since the general election in 1997
up to the present day, which has been spent on dyslexia support.
Specifically I would like this itemised by amount spent on
providing laptops, dictaphones, note takers, and so on. I would
also like the know the objective impact this has had, according to
reviews, evaluations and such. Integral to this is the cost of the
wider spending on literacy initiatives introduced since the 1997
general election. Please list all these figures by UK,
England-Wales-Scotland-Northern Ireland, as well as the individual
English local educational authorities (LEAs). Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Jones

Dear Mr Jones,

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible (where a response is required). For information, the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses
should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are
requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2008/0031797

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear Mark Jones,

I am writing to confirm that the Department has now completed its search for the information which you requested on 10 April 2008. Your request is very broad and I have tried to provide information which responses to the specific points you have raised.

Children with dyslexia have benefited from the general increased funding per pupil, which has risen from £3,370 in 1997/98 to £4,710 in 2006/07 in real terms. You asked specifically about costs of literacy initiatives introduced since the 1997 general election. The Department is responsible for education in England and so spending on the key initiatives, set out in the table below, relates to England only:

Standards Fund

98-99

99-00

00-01

01-02

02-03

03-04

04-05

05-06

06-07

07-08

08-09

provisional

Total

£ '000

Literacy Strategy

£62,700

£72,800

£84,500

£102,600

£101,200

£107,400

£531,200

Primary Strategy

£131,000

£185,000

£198,000

£206,500

£220,800

£941,300

Books for schools (Primary)

£23,000

£43,000

£49,000

£115,000

Secondary Strategy (Formerly KS3)

£11,000

£99,000

£188,000

£208,000

£156,000

£158,000

£175,000

£170,675

£136,175

£1,301,850

Note: All costs shown in thousands (£ 000's)

The Government introduced the National Literacy Strategy in 1998. In 2003, the National Literacy Strategy combined with the National Numeracy Strategy to form the Primary National Strategy. From 2004-05 to 2007-08, the Department has allocated £720 million (with an additional provisional allocation £220 million for 2008-09). This is allocated via the Standards Fund to support the Primary National Strategy (formerly the National Literacy Strategy and the National Numeracy Strategy). We are unable to split this down to specific literacy programmes as the precise allocations between literacy and numeracy are a matter for each local authority taking account of local needs.

The above table shows costs for the Secondary Strategy. The Secondary Strategy (formerly know as the KS3 Strategy) was introduced nationally in 2001 and covered the core subjects English, Maths, Science, ICT and Foundation Subjects / Whole School Improvement, phased in over a 2 year period, with English and Maths introduced first. It is difficult to give a precise figure for the resources devoted specifically to English. The costs above are principally to provide central infrastructure for LAs and teaching and learning support programmes to schools across the aforementioned core subjects; particularly where there was underperformance in schools and specifically under attainment in the core subjects with English and Maths to the fore. Therefore, the secondary allocation cannot be hypothecated as it covers a range of subjects.

Both Strategies over the years have embedded effective teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools through a mix of training and materials, comprehensive development programmes for teachers and the provision of support from local consultants. Some elements of the above funding will go to authorities, other parts to schools. Some elements of this funding are funded at 100% (i.e. the Department funds the entire programme); other parts are match-funded at 50% (i.e. authorities match fund the Department's contribution).

Dyslexia Specific Initiatives for school age children

Along with the Dyslexia Institute (DI), WH Smith and the National Lottery Charities Board, we supported SPELL IT, a research project looking at the impact of structured intervention methods in relation to 7 year olds experiencing difficulty in reading. The project reported in 2002. We gave the DI a grant to distribute copies of the resulting readers' support pack to parents through the DI's network of two dozen or so regional centres.

We collaborated with the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) on the production and dissemination of a resource pack for schools, "Achieving dyslexia friendly schools" and "How can I tell if a child may be dyslexic : handy hints for primary school teachers" .

Guidance issued in connection with the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies includes material on dyslexia : "The dyslexia friendly classroom" and "Guidance to support pupils with dyslexia and dyscalculia" (daily maths lesson).

In conjunction with the BDA, Dyslexia Institute and National Reading Recovery Network, we produced and published a "Dyslexia: Pathways into training" leaflet.

Support for the training and professional development of teachers and other staff in SEN and disability issues was available under the SEN component of the Standards Fund. This element is not part of the School Development Grant. Further details of the Standard Funds since 2001 and the current School Development Grant can be found at: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/management/...

HM Treasury Invest to Save Budget funded research and development work looking at the application of state of the art military jet pilot eye tracking technology as an aid to early identification of dyslexia and other difficulties. This work was completed in March 2004. The total amount of funding over the period 2001-2004 was £1.224m.

We have given a grant to BDA in support of their 2004 and 2008 international conferences.

We commissioned Dr Angela Fawcett of Sheffield University (an internationally recognised expert and writer on dyslexia) to produce three reviews of current research on dyslexia, ordered by theme. I attach the first of the reviews to this e-mail.

On 5 December 2007, we announced up to £3m for projects to support improve provision for dyslexia children, further details can be found here: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi...

I hope this provides a comprehensive list of national initiatives we have funded. You asked for the amount spent locally, itemised by amount spent on providing laptops, dictaphones, note-takers and so on. You will appreciate that we seek to balance the recording and reporting burden on schools and local authorities with ensuring we have the necessary financial information nationally to inform future spending decisions and that public funds are spent in accordance with the wishes of Parliament. It would be unreasonable to expect all schools and local authorities to itemise in their returns to the Department the amount spent on children with dyslexia, specified by the categories you list. Given this, we do not hold such information.

I hope this response covers the information you have requested. If there are any specific initiatives or research that you want further details on, or have any queries about this e-mail, please contact me.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me within two calendar months of the date of this e-mail.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints/review procedure.

Yours

Hardip

............................................................................................................................

Hardip Begol

Deputy Director
Special Educational Needs and Disability Division
2A Caxton House, Tothill Street, London, SW1H 9NA

Tel: 020 7273 4823
[mobile number]
www.dcsf.gov.uk <http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/>

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