HC Deb 09 November 1999 vol 337 cc518-22W
Mr. Clappison

To 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 Morris

We 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.

Mr. Clappison

To 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 Morris

The 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

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. Clappison

To 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 Morris

We 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. Clappison

To 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 Morris

The 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.

Year Child: adult ratio for all nursery classes with one teacher
1997 11.4
1998 11.3
1999 11.3

Mr. Clappison

To 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 Morris

Revenue 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. Clappison

To 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 Morris

The 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

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. Clappison

To 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 Morris

Replies to all of these questions have been given today, at columns518-522.