§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether she will now arrange to compute pupil numbers for parliamentary constituency areas; and if she will specify the reason why she has previously refused to do so.
592Ware currently in nursery schools; and what were the corresponding figures for 1974 and 1977 in (a) England and Wales and (b) Bedfordshire.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe numbers of full-time and part-time pupils aged three and four years in nursery schools or nursery classes in primary schools in January as a percentage of the estimated population of these age groups as at the previous 30 June are given below. Information about Wales is now the responsibility of my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonNo. In England there are over 30,000 schools for which it would be necessary to identify the parliamentary constituencies in which they are located. There are practical difficulties in undertaking an exercise of this magnitude, and I do not consider that the substantial use of manpower and computer resources required would be justified.