School Leavers

HC Deb 23 January 1989 vol 145 cc384-5W

Mr. Saunond

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table showing the proportion of school leavers in(a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland who continued into (i) university education and (ii) other higher education for each year since 1979.

Mr. Jackson

The information is as follows. The figures reflect the intended destination of school leavers.

Proportion of school leavers intending to proceed to university or other higher education
	Academic years
	1978–79	1979–80	1980–81	1981–82	1982–83	1983–84	1984–85	1985–86	1986–87
England*
Universities	6.1	6.2	6.1	5.9	5.5	5.5	5.4	5.5	5.5
Other institutions2	2.1	2.1	2.8	2.9	2.7	2.9	2.9	2.8	2.7
Wales1
Universities	6.2	6.3	6.5	5.4	6.0	5.6	5.7	6.1	5.5
Other institutions2	2.5	2.7	2.7	3.9	3.3	3.5	3.7	4.0	3.3
Northern Ireland3
Universities	—	9.6	—	9.7	—	12.2	—	12.3	12.1
Other institutions	—	5.7	—	5.9	—	3.0	—	4.5	4.6
1 Based on 10 per cent, sample of pupils in each school.
2 Including only those courses of higher education which are readily identifiable from the school leavers survey.
3 Figures available biennially only until 1985–86.