§ Sir R. Glynasked the Minister of Education if he will give, in the form of a table, the numbers of children in the secondary schools of the various education authorities of England and Wales; the average size of the classes now and after the school-leaving age has been raised; and how many of the authorities have been able to provide proper accommodation to the satisfaction of His Majesty's inspectors.
§ Mr. TomlinsonI am unable to give all the information for which the hon. Member asks in tabular form. There were 1,268,531 children in all types of secondary schools in England and Wales in January, 1940. The average number of pupils per class in these schools was 30.3 and since my plans for increasing the number of teachers provide for more than sufficient teachers for the extra age-96W group, this figure will be progressively reduced in the next few years. With regard to the last part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for Maidstone (Mr. Bossom) on 13th February, of which I am sending him a copy.