HC Deb 03 July 2001 vol 371 cc81-2W
Dr. Starkey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students obtained GCSE and A-level examinations in(a) Urdu, (b) Bengali, (c) Gujerati, (d) Hindi, (e) Mandarin, (f) Cantonese and (g) modern languages in each of the last five years. [1299]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The number of students of all ages who obtained GCSE and GCE A-level passes in the various languages over the last five years are shown in the table. Figures for Mandarin and Cantonese are not available, data for Chinese as a whole have been provided instead.

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
GCSE
(a) Urdu 5,658 6,660 6,370 6,497 6,677
(b) Bengali 2,116 2,220 2,146 2,152 2,041
(c) Gujerati 1,313 1,309 1,026 1,189 1,200
(d) Hindi — — — — —
(e)(f) Chinese 1,956 2,048 1,937 1,917 2,028
(g) All modem languages 450,244 444,639 460,186 472,010 476,050
GCE A-Level
(a) Urdu 833 837 591 746 725
(b) Bengali 99 98 108 37 53
(c) Gujerati — — — — —
(d) Hindi 31 19 13 8 —
(e)(f) Chinese 972 887 1,074 1,165 1,225
(g) All modem languages 32,937 32,340 31,298 30,224 27,455

cases in which requirements or directions were made under Schedule 22(3) that proceeds or land should be paid or transferred to the local authority under section 77 or Schedule 22 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 for (i) the disposal or (ii) the change of use of land used as playing fields by schools in each year since 1 October 1998. [842]

Mr. Timms

[holding answer 26 June 2001]: The information requested is shown in the table. This relates to applications to dispose of areas equal to, or larger than, a sports pitch. The table also shows the number of applications that did not result in the loss of any areas larger than a sports pitch. In the case of all approved applications, any proceeds were used to provide new or improved sports or education facilities at maintained schools.