HC Deb 15 March 2001 vol 364 cc736-7W
Mr. Denis Murphy

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many computers there are in schools in Wansbeck; and how many there were in 1997. [153146]

Mr. Wills

The Department does not collect details about the numbers of school computers held in individual constituencies. Data from the Department's Survey of information and communications technology in Schools 1996 are given, as the survey was performed bi-annually until 1998. The comparable survey in 2000 shows that the numbers of computers in schools in England has increased as shown in the following table:

Sector March 1996 March 2000
1 Primary 13.0 17.8
Secondary 95.9 112.6
Special 19.0 66.5

The ratio of computers to pupils since 1996 has improved as follows:

Sector March 1996 March 2000
2 Primary 1:19 1:12.6
Secondary 1:9 1:7.9
Special 1:4 1:3.7