§ Mr. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many children attended schools in the Leek parliamentary constituency in September 1977; what proportion took school dinners; what proportion of those taking school dinners had free dinners; and how these figures compare with those for September 1974.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThis information is not available to my Department on a parliamentary constituency 669W basis. The figures for the Staffordshire education authority area as a whole for
DAY PUPILS IN MAINTAINED SCHOOLS October 1974 October 1977 May 1978 Pupils in attendance … … … … … 173,970 180,647 180,122 Number taking dinners … … … … … 120,023 104,756 106,767 Percentage taking dinners … … … … 69.0 58.0 59.3 Numbers taking free dinners … … … … 13,569 16,062 19,698 (a) As a percentage of those in attendance … 7.8 8.9 10.9 (b) As a percentage of those taking dinners … 11.3 15.3 18.5 Note: In a normal year the number of meals taken in May tends to be lower by 2 or 3 per cent. on average than the figure for the previous October.