HC Deb 29 July 1965 vol 717 cc161-3W
Mr. Derek Page

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of Norfolk schoolchildren have received clothing or footwear grants, as distinct from uniform grants, in each of the last five years; and how these figures compare with the rest of the country.

Mr. Crosland

I understand from the Norfolk local education authority that in the five years 1960–61 to 1964–65, 0.6, 0.64, 0.76, 0.73 and 0.71 per cent., respectively, of children at maintained schools were provided with clothing and footwear. Similar information about the rest of the country could only be obtained by special inquiry of all local education authorities.

Mr. Derek Page

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of schoolchildren in Norfolk receive school meals; what proportion receive free school meals; and how these figures compare with the rest of the country.

Mr. Crosland

The information, derived from local education authorities' returns for the autumn term, 1964, expressed as percentages of the number of day pupils present at maintained schools, is as follows:

Norfolk Average for England and Wales
per cent. per cent.
Pupils taking school dinners 76.9 62.2
Pupils receiving free dinners 6.0 4.3

Mr. Derek Page

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of Norfolk schoolchildren achieved university places in each of the last five years; and if he will provide comparable figures for Anglesey, Leicestershire, and England as a whole.

Mr. Crosland

The latest available information on the destination of school leavers in England and Wales relates to 1962–63 and is published in "Statistics of Education 1963, Part Three" (Table 7). Statistics for earlier years are contained in the corresponding preceding volumes of the publication. The sample on which the tables are based is not large enough to give a reliable indication of small numbers and cannot be used for comparisons between individual county areas.

List 71, published annually by my Department gives the number of new awards to students and its relation to the size of the population, for each Local Education area. The latest issue of this List relates to 1963–64.