HC Deb 04 March 1976 vol 906 cc726-7W
Mr. R. C. Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what advice he has given to local education authorities concerning the need to maintain adequate pupil-teacher ratios in schools in areas of urban deprivation.

Mr. Mulley

Paragraph 38 of the Joint Departmental Circular on the recent rate support grant settlement (Department of Education and Science No. 15/75) envisaged that the school staffing ratios in force in each local education authority's area in the school year 1975–76 would be maintained during 1976–77. Within this framework, it is for each authority to decide what staffing standards are appropriate for individual schools, in the light of local circumstances.