§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a note of a meeting held in her Department on Thursday 25th October 1973 with representatives of the London borough of Newham concerning the problem of 150 secondary pupils awaiting school places for upwards of five months.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasNo. It would not be appropriate to publish notes of this kind in the OFFICIAL REPORT. A 539W copy of the note was sent to the Newham Local Education Authority on 26th October and the hon. Member has since had a copy.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a copy of "Notes on the placement of pupils in Secondary Schools in the London borough of Newham" which is in her possession; and whether she will make a statement.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasNo. It would not be appropriate to publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT a copy of "Notes on the placement in Secondary Schools in the London
Waiting since Non-immigrants Immigrants coming to Newham from areas of other LEAs Immigrants coming to Newham from countries of origin Totals May 1973 … … … 2 — 1 3 June 1973 … … … 1 — 12 13 July 1973 … … … 2 3 5 10 August 1973 … … … 10 2 16 28 September 1973 … … 37 3 38 78 October 1973 … … … 7 3 22 32 Totals … … … 59 11 94 164 The specific problem of a cumulative waiting list of this dimension was brought to the Department's notice by reports in the Press on 23rd and 24th October.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science on what basis and for what reasons she has suggested to the London borough of Newham that it should increase the number of pupils in secondary school classes beyond 30; when she discussed this, proposition with the teachers' representatives in Newham and with what results; and when she intends to give her written directive to the authority on this basis.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasAt a meeting on 25th October with representatives of the Newham Local Education Authority my Department made a number of suggestions for overcoming the problem of placing over 160 secondary pupils in the borough then out of school. One suggestion among others was that in some cases class sizes might if necessary be increased to 31. But the Department stressed that it was for the authority to decide how to make the best use of the facilities at its disposal to meet its statutory obligation
540Wborough of Newham" which the hon. Member has forwarded to my right hon. Friend. She will, however, be writing to him about this.
§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will publish in the OFFICIAL REPORT figures in her possession stating the waiting list of children for entry into secondary schools as at 25th October, 1973 in the London borough of Newham and the number of occasions when her Department was informed of this problem.
§ Mr. St. John-StevasFollowing is the information supplied by the authority on 25th October:
to provide education for pupils in its area. There is no question of a direction to the authority.