§ Mr. Robert C. Brownasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage increase or decrease in (a) primary school population and (b) secondary school population in (i) Newcastle upon Tyne and (ii) the Northern region took place for each year from 1970 to 1980; what is his departmental forecast for 1981 to 1985; what are the comparable figures in each case for the Inner London Education Authority and the South-East region; and what are the comparable yearly figures for pupil/teacher ratios in all cases.
§ Dr. BoysonThe information requested for the years January 1970 to January 1980 in respect of maintained primary and secondary schools is given below:
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Percentage change in pupil numbers from January of the previous year Pupil/teacher ratios* with in schools †Primary Secondary †Primary Secondary Newcastle upon Tyne County Borough‡ 1970 -3.2 -0.2 28.4 18.6 1971 -1.1 -0.7 27.0 18.1 1972 +1.6 -0.4 26.8 17.7 1973 -3.2 -2.3 25.5 16.8 Newcastle upon Tyne Metropolitan District** 1974†† -4.5 +11.3 24.4 18.3 1975 -3.2 -1.3 21.5 16.6 121W
Percentage change in pupil numbers from January of the previous year Pupil/teacher ratios* within schools †Primary Secondary †Primary Secondary 1976 -2.6 -0.5 19.9 15.8 1977 -3.5 -1.0 19.4 15.5 1978 -3.8 ‡‡+6.0 18.7 ‡‡15.0 1979 -3.9 -2.4 18.7 14.7 1980 -3.9 -2.8 18.6 14.7 Inner London Education Authority 1970 +0.9 -0.2 24.9 15.3 1971 -0.4 +0.4 23.9 15.9 1972 -0.5 +0.4 22.8 15.6 1973 -1.7 +0.5 22.1 15.4 1974 -2.9 +6.9 21.7 15.9 1975 -3.5 +0.4 20.4 15.8 1976 -4.8 +1.0 19.9 15.6 1977 -5.1 -0.1 19.6 15.4 1978 -5.8 -3.2 19.2 15.1 1979 -5.5 -2.4 18.7 14.9 1980 -5.4 -3.6 17.9 14.5 Northern Region‡ 1970 +2.2 +2.5 27.6 18.7 1971 +0.6 +4.6 27.0 18.6 1972 +1.1 +2.3 26.3 18.0 1973 -0.5 +2.4 25.4 17.3 Northern Region** 1974†† -1.5 +12.3 24.6 17.8 1975 -2.6 +2.4 23.4 17.3 1976 -0.8 +1.1 23.0 17.0 1977 -2.0 ‡‡+2.0 22.9 ‡‡17.0 1978 -2.8 ‡‡+0.8 22.5 ‡‡16.9 1979 -3.4 -0.8 22.1 16.6 1980 -3.7 -1.1 21.7 16.4 South East Region‡ 1970 +3.1 +2.8 27.0 17.0 1971 +2.5 +3.4 26.5 17.4 1972 +2.1 +3.6 25.7 17.1 1973 +0.5 +2.9 25.0 16.8 South East Region** 1974†† +0.2 +7.9 24.4 17.0 1975 -1.2 +2.3 23.6 16.9 1976 -1.4 +2.9 23.5 16.8 1977 -2.5 +2.7 23.4 16.8 1978 -3.1 +1.1 23.2 16.7 1979 -2.9 ‡‡+0.3 22.6 ‡‡16.S 1980 -3.6 ‡‡-0.6 22.2 ‡‡16.4 * Pupil/teacher ratios for 1970 take account of all teachers employed in schools; for 1971 and later years only qualified teachers have been included in the calculations. † Counting each part-time pupil as 0.5. ‡ As constituted up to 31 March 1974. ** As constitued from 1 April 1974.
†† Estimated.
‡‡Including former direct grant grammar schools.
Owing to the reorganisation of local government from 1 April 1974, the information given for Newcastle upon Tyne and the Northern and South-Eastern regions for the years 1970 to 1973 is not fully comparable with that given for subsequent years.
In addition, the information given for secondary schools is not fully comparable due to the raising of the minimum school leaving age in 1972–73—which was first reflected in the figures for 1974—and the transfer of some former direct grant grammar schools into the maintained schools sector during the years 1976 to 1979.
My Department does not normally prepare forecasts relating to individual local education authorities or regions.