HC Deb 21 February 1995 vol 255 cc146-7
9. Mr. Milburn

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if she will make a statement on class sizes in schools.

Mr Robin Squire

Class sizes are rising slightly, as pupil numbers increase. At the same time many schools are raising pupils' standards of achievement.

Mr. Milburn

Is the Minister aware of the substantial worries of parents, teachers and governors in County Durham schools about the impact of his funding policies on class sizes and on educational standards?

With more than 1 million primary school pupils already being taught in classes of over 30, is not teaching becoming less a means of offering children a valuable learning experience and more a matter of crowd control? What sort of future is that for our children?

Mr. Squire

First, the average class sizes for both primary and secondary schools in Durham are close to the national averages, which are certainly not too high.

Secondly, one might have thought, from listening to the hon. Gentleman's question, that the position in 1979 when the Conservatives came to power was not about 400,000 pupils greater than the figure that the hon. Gentleman gave for those in classes of over 30.

Sir Mark Lennox-Boyd

When considering class sizes in Lancashire, does my hon. Friend agree that the behaviour of the local education authority, which puts the interests of maintaining its centralised bureaucracy above that of maintaining or reducing class sizes, will only encourage more parents to consider grant-maintained status?

Mr. Squire

My hon. Friend echoes some of the comments of the Audit Commission about too large bureaucracies in local government, and his argument is a good one. I expect Lancashire education authority, as I do every other education authority, to review all its expenditure and to examine it closely before it considers cutting teachers at the sharp end, and to look more closely at the administrators in county hall.