HC Deb 17 December 1997 vol 303 cc204-5W
Mr. Öpik

To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what percentage and how many primary school pupils were in classes of over(a) 30, (b) 36 and (c) 40 in January (i) in each local education authority in Wales and (ii) in total; and what was the actual and percentage change in numbers relative to January 1996 in each case. [19942]

Mr. Hain

The annual January Schools Census has collected information about the number of classes by size of class but not the total number of pupils in each class. The following table shows for each local education authority area the percentages of ordinary classes in maintained primary schools in January 1996 and 1997 which had more than 30, 35 or 40 pupils.

Percentage of ordinary classes in maintained primary schools, by class size and local education authority area, January 1996 and 1997
(A) With over 30 pupils (B) With over 35 pupils (C) With over 40 pupils
Local education authority area1 1996 1997 1996 1997 1996 1997
Isle of Anglesey 6.1 8.7 0.4 1.1 0.4 0.4
Gwynedd 12.6 15.0 1.4 2.7 0.2 0.2
Conwy 25.4 20.3 2.7 2.0 0.0 0.0
Denbighshire 27.7 30.3 4.0 7.5 0.0 0.3
Flintshire 36.1 34.1 5.0 4.0 0.6 0.4
Wrexham 30.8 32.6 3.5 2.0 0.3 0.2
Powys 6.4 10.3 0.4 1.9 0.4 0.2
Ceredigion 5.8 5.3 2.3 1.5 0.4 0.4
Pembrokeshire 7.7 8.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Carmarthenshire 7.1 6.4 0.6 0.6 0.0 0.0
Swansea 17.7 19.7 0.1 0.9 0.0 0.0
Neath Port Talbot 14.0 18.9 0.4 1.5 0.2 0.6
Bridgend 33.7 40.2 0.9 4.0 0.0 0.0
The Vale of Glamorgan 15.2 20.1 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.0
Cardiff 24.8 29.7 0.7 1.5 0.0 0.1
Rhondda Cynon Taff 28.4 30.0 2.1 2.8 0.1 0.0
Merthyr Tydfil 27.3 24.1 1.4 2.8 0.0 0.0
Caerphilly 28.5 33.7 2.6 3.3 0.0 0.2
Blaenau Gwent 31.8 26.7 3.7 3.6 0.4 0.0
Torfaen 39.5 34 4.2 5.1 0.0 0.0
Monmouthshire 32.4 39.6 2.0 4.5 0.0 0.4
Newport 37.7 39.8 4.5 5.9 0.0 0.0
Wales 22.3 24.3 1.8 2.5 0.1 0.1

Source:

Schools Census.

Notes

1Includes grant maintained schools.

(A) Percentages in these columns include the percentages for the relevant year shown year (B).

(B) Percentages in these columns include the percentages for the relevant year shown under (C)

From January 1998 the Schools Census will collect pupil numbers by class size.