§ Mrs. MayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teachers were in post in infant classes in(a) January 1998 and (b) January 1999. [97757]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 8 November 1999]: We do not collect information on the number of teachers in post in infant classes.
The available information relates to the number of teachers employed in all classes in maintained primary and nursery schools and is shown in the table.
532W
January each year Number of teachers 1999 200,400 1998 198,400 The figures are derived from the annual return about teachers in service made by local education authorities.
We have provided funding for 4,500 extra teachers from September 1999 to implement our infant class size pledge. Of this number, 1,500 had been funded from September 1998 as well.