§ Mr. Jesselasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what are the figures for the intake of children into primary schools for each of the last five years, and the forecast figures for 1976. 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonStatistics are not available in a form which would show the numbers of children entering primary schools in a particular year.24W The numbers of children aged 5 attending maintained primary schools in England and Wales in January of each year from 1971 to 1975, together with estimates for each year from 1976 to 1980 are as follows:
At January Pupils aged 5(Thousands) (Age at 31st December of preceding year) 1971 … … 794 1972 … … 783 1973 … … 768 1974 … … 755 1975 … … 736 1976 … … 724(projected) 1977 … … 723(projected) 1978 … … 670(projected) 1979 … … 625(projected) 1980 … … 593(projected)