§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils in Key Stage 2 were in classes of 41 or more taught by one teacher in maintained primary schools(a) on 1 May 1997 and (b) according to the most recent available figures. [94923]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisWe do not have information for May 1997 but in January 1997 there were 1,020 pupils in Key Stage 2 in classes of 41 or more, in January 1998 there were 2,390, and in January 1999 there were 1,690. Primary class sizes, including those at Key Stage 2, rose consistently under the previous administration from 1988 to 1998, reflecting the spending decisions and priorities of the time. Between January 1998 and January 1999, reflecting the first budget of this administration, the number of primary pupils in classes over 30 fell from 1,411,366 to 1,278,607 and new figures for Key Stage 1 will be published shortly. The proportion of children in Key Stage 2 classes over 30 fell from 40 per cent. to 39 per cent. between January 1998 and January 1999. This information was published in the statistical volume "Statistics of Education Schools in England" earlier this year, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
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§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the local education authorities with pupils in classes of 41 or more taught by one teacher(a) in maintained secondary schools and (b) in Key Stage 2 in maintained primary schools, indicating how many such pupils there are in each case. [94926]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe available information is shown in the tables.
Number of pupils in maintained secondary schools of size 41 or more taught by one teacher, January 1999 LEA Number of pupils Blackpool 41 Bradford 41 Durham 41 Nottinghamshire 41 City of Bristol 42 Manchester 42 Northumberland 42 City of Plymouth 44 Lincolnshire 45 Warwickshire 45 Windsor and Maidenhead 45 Wigan 48 Redbridge 51 Bolton 56 Gloucestershire 57 Milton Keynes 57 Wolverhampton 64 Wiltshire 66 Bracknell Forest 78 Hertfordshire 78 Leicestershire 99 Herefordshire 129 Kent 153 Cumbria 175 England 1,580
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Number of pupils in Key Stage 2 classes of size 41 or more taught by one teacher, January 1999 LEA Number of pupils Blackburn with Darwen 41 City of Kingston-upon-Hull 41 City of Nottingham 41 Derby 41 East Riding of Yorkshire 41 Leicestershire 41 North East Lincolnshire 41 Northumberland 41 Oldham 41 Sefton 41 Staffordshire 41 Stockport 41 Cambridgeshire 42 Hertfordshire 42 Nottinghamshire 42 Wiltshire 42 Devon 43 Norfolk 43 Wirral 43 Havering 54 Bolton 83 Dorset 83 St. Helens 83 Halton 87 Lancashire 124 Derbyshire 387 England 1,690
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) how many pupils were in classes of 41 or more taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools(a) on 1 May 1997 and (b) according to the most recent available figures; [94925]
(2) how many pupils were in classes of 31 or more pupils taught by one teacher in maintained schools (a) on 1 May 1997 and (b) on the latest date for which figures are available. [95328]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisWe have published the following information on numbers of pupils in maintained schools in England taught by one teacher in classes of over 31 pupils and of over 41 in the statistical volume "Statistics of Education Schools in England", copies of which have been placed in the Library. We do not have information for May 1997, so we have given in the table the position in both January 1997 and January 1998. Primary and secondary class sizes rose consistently under the previous Administration from 1988 to 1998, reflecting the spending decisions and priorities of the time. The fall in the number of pupils in large classes in 1999 follows the first budget of this Administration.
Year Number pupils in secondary schools in classes of 41 Number pupils in classes of 31 in primary and secondary schools 1997 470 1,589,651 1998 1,630 1,693,999 1999 1,580 1,591,581 The average secondary class remains 6 smaller than the average primary class. Most secondary classes are subject related and these figures do not reflect the varied size of different sets and subject related classes. The Government, in line with Ofsted evidence and most experts, believe that they should concentrate resources on reducing infant class sizes where the numbers in classes over 30 are expected to have fallen from 477,000 in 1997 to below 200,000 in September 1999.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many pupils were taught in classes of 41 or more in nursery classes(a) on 1 May 1997 and (b) according to the most recent figures available. [94927]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe information requested for May 1997 is not available. In 1999, there were a total of 309 pupils in nursery classes of 41 or more where the Annual School Census reported there was one teacher and no other adult. In all cases, they were involved in activities such as PE, games, drama, music, watching TV or listening to the radio. There were no cases of normal nursery classes with a single teacher in charge of more than 40 pupils.
The information in the following table sets out the child:adult ratio for all nursery classes with one teacher for 1997, 1998 and 1999.
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Year Child: adult ratio for all nursery classes with one teacher 1997 11.4 1998 11.3 1999 11.3
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to his letter of 27 October to the hon. Member for Hertsmere on infant class sizes, if he will break down the figure of 6,000 extra teachers according to type of school indicating the overall net change in the number of teachers taking account of teachers who leave the profession. [96771]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisRevenue grant is allocated to Local Education Authorities on condition that it is used to employ the additional teachers set out in their approved class size plans. It is for LEAs, in consultation with their schools, to draw up their plans and to determine exactly how they should be implemented. We do not therefore hold precise information breaking down the additional teachers by type of school, but approximately 60 per cent. of teachers will be employed in Community schools, 25 per cent. in VA schools, 2 per cent. in Foundation schools and the remainder in VC schools: broadly in line with the number of primary schools in each category.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to the answer of 3 November 1999,Official Report, column 201, on class sizes in primary schools, what factors underlay his decision to restrict the collection of data to classes for five, six and seven-year-olds. [97932]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe September Class Size Count is designed specifically to monitor the implementation of our Infant Class Size Pledge. It also keeps to a minimum any data collection burden placed on schools and local education authorities at a very busy time of year for them.
Good quality monitoring information is essential to the effective implementation of the Pledge, to ensure that local education authorities are carrying out their class size plans as agreed, to enable the Government to support local education authorities effectively as they do so, to inform the allocation of funding and to help to ensure that good value for public funds is achieved. The results of the count also enable us to take further action quickly at the start of the school year to promote the implementation of the pledge, if this is necessary. Since more comprehensive
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Table 1 £000 Year and organization Type of asset Value of asset 1991–92 Department for Education and Employment Proceeds of sale of Royal College of Art properties, re-invested in rationalisation of college accommodation 506 Principally proceeds of sale of Liverpool City Technology College Land 655 National Dock Labour Board Surplus Properties 520 Other properties 170 Skills Training Agency Asset disposals principally property 6,674 Total 8,525 Employment Service Principally land and buildings 5,140 Total 5,140 1992–93 Department for Education and Employment Skills Training Agency Asset disposals, principally property 343 Land and buildings 1,178 Other surplus assets 760 Total 2,281 information from the Annual School Census is not generally available until April, it does not serve these immediate purposes.
Partly as a result of effective monitoring of the pledge, the Government is on target to achieve its target that no 5, 6 or 7 year old should be in an infant class of more than 30 children in virtually all schools by September 2000—18 months ahead of schedule. This September, there were 181,000 children in large infant classes, as compared to 354,000 in September 1998.
§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment when he plans to answer the questions of 21 October from the hon. Member for Hertsmere regarding nursery class sizes, secondary school class sizes of 41 or more, classes of 31 or more in maintained schools and lists of local education authorities with classes of over 41 at Key Stage 2 and secondary level. [97885]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisReplies to all of these questions have been given today, at columns518-522.