§ Dr. HampsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many classes in (a) primary and (b) secondary education there are with over 30 pupils; what were the figures in 1979; and what has been the percentage change. [3883]
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§ Mr. Robin SquireThe information requested is shown in the following table:
Number of classes of 31 or more pupils taught by one teacher in maintained primary and secondary schools England Position in January in each year (1979 and 1996) 1979 1996 Percentage change Primary 44,899 38,338 -14.6 Secondary1 17,255 7,351 -57.4 1 Excludes pupils in sixth form colleges which ceased to be classified as schools in April 1993.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is her estimate of the cost of reducing to a maximum of 30 maintained infant and primary school classes for pupils aged between five and 11 years. [3881]
§ Mr. SquireThe Department's statisticians estimate that it would have cost between £310 million and £570 million to reduce to a maximum of 30 pupils all single-teacher nursery and primary classes in January 1996. The exact cost would depend on the extent to which children in larger classes could be accommodated in existing smaller classes or grouped together in new classes. The estimated costs are for extra teachers only, and make no allowance for further costs such as extra accommodation.
§ Dr. HampsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what has been the (a) pupil—teacher ratio in each year and (b) the expenditure per pupil in each year since 1980. [3882]
§ Mr. SquireThe available information is shown in the following table:
Pupil: teacher ratio and expenditure per pupil for maintained nursery, primary and secondary1 schools England 1979–1980 to 1995–1996 Financial year Overall pupil: teacher ratio2 Expenditure 3,4 per pupil(£) 1979–1980 18.7 513 1980–1981 18.6 651 1981–1982 18.5 740 1982–1983 18.1 811 1983–1984 17.9 872 1984–1985 17.8 924 1985–1986 17.6 991 1986–1987 17.3 1,110 1987–1988 17.0 1,238 1988–1989 17.0 1,361 1989–1990 17.0 1,487 1990–1991 17.2 1,623 1991–1992 17.2 1,749 1992–1993 17.7 1,857 1993–1994 18.1 1,866 1994–1995 18.3 1,890 1995–1996 18.5 n/a 1 Excludes sixth form colleges from 1993–1994. 2 Position in January. 3 Net institutional expenditure in cash terms. 4 Includes LEA maintained schools only. n/a = not available.