HC Deb 28 June 2000 vol 352 cc549-50W
Miss Geraldine Smith

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the primary schools in Morecambe and Lunesdale which have received additional money to reduce class sizes. [127635]

Ms Estelle Morris

The schools in Morecambe and Lunesdale which have received additional funding as part of the Government's initiative to limit infant classes to 30 pupils are listed. £620 million is available to support the initiative, and allocations so far to Lancashire LEA amount to nearly £15 million. This has helped to reduce the size of the average Key Stage 1 class in Morecambe and Lunesdale to 26.0. The figure in January 1997 was 29.1.

  • Morecambe and Heysham Sandylands Primary
  • Slyne with Hest, St. Luke's CE Primary
  • Nether Kellet Primary
  • Morecambe and Heysham Torrisholme Primary
  • Bolton-le-Sands CE Primary
  • Heysham St. Peter's CE Primary
  • Overton St. Helen's CE Primary
  • Great Wood Primary
  • Warton Archbishop Hutton's Primary
  • Carnforth North Road Primary
  • Lancaster Ryelands Primary
  • Skerton Community Primary
  • Morecambe Bay Community Primary
  • Lancaster Road Primary
  • Morecambe and Heysham Trumacar Community Primary
  • Grosvenor Park Primary
  • Carnforth Christ Church CE VA Primary
  • St. Wilfrid's CE Primary
  • Poulton-le-Sands Ce Primary
  • Silverdale St. John's CE VA Primary
  • St. Patrick's Catholic Primary
  • Over Kellet Wilson's Endowed CE Primary
  • St. Mary's Catholic Primary.

Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many five, six and seven-year-olds in Warrington North constituency were being taught in classes of over 30(a) in May 1997 and (b) on the most recent date for which figures are available. [127320]

Ms Estelle Morris

[holding answer 26 June 2000]: The latest available information on class sizes in the Parliamentary constituency of Warrington, North is shown in the table.

Provisional national estimates of Key Stage 1 class sizes for January 2000 were recently published in a Statistical First Release "Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000 (15/2000)" on 12 April 2000. Class size information broken down by local education authority area is also available from the House of Commons Library.

National figures for infant class sizes in September 1999 were published in Statistical First Release "Infant class sizes in England (2/2000)" on 21 January 2000.

The Government are well on course to limit all infant classes for five, six and 7-year-olds to 30 or below by September 2001 at the latest.

Number and percentage of pupils in Key Stage 1 classes of size 31 or more taught by one teacher in maintained primary schools in the Parliamentary constituency of Warrington North and England: 1997 and 20001
Position as at January
Number of pupils in classes of over 302 Percentage of pupils in classes of over 30
1997
Warrington North 1,450 34
England 476,820 29
2000
Warrington North 710 18
England 177,020 11
1Provisional
2Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 pupils

Mr. Matthew Taylor

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of(a) reducing all primary school class sizes to 25 pupils or fewer and (b) introducing a maximum average class size of 25 in primary schools; and if he will make a statement. [127507]

Ms Estelle Morris

[holding answer 27 June 2000]: It has been estimated that the cost of reducing class sizes to 25 for all primary school children would be around £3 billion. We have not made an estimate of the cost of a maximum average class size of 25 in primary schools.

The size of the average primary class fell for the second year running between January 1999 and January 2000, from 27.5 to 27.1, after rising for the previous 10 years. The size of the average primary class in the Truro and St. Austell parliamentary constituency has gone down from 27.5 in January 1997 to 27.2 in January 2000.

At the same time, we are well on the way to delivering our pledge to limit infant classes to 30 pupils. £620 million is available to support the pledge, and allocations so far to Cornwall LEA amount to some £3.5 million. This has helped to reduce the size of the average Key Stage 1 class in Truro and St. Austell to 24.9. The figure in January 1997 was 25.4.