§ 41. Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what percentage of the 16 to 18 year age group have remained in schools or sixth form colleges in each of the past four years.
§ Dr. BoysonThe proportion of pupils remaining at maintained and non-maintained schools, excluding special schools, in England for the latest four years for which information is available are as follows:
Percentage of pupils remaining at school beyond the statutory leaving age Per cent. January of each year Age at 31 August of preceding year 1979 1980 1981 1982 16 years 27.6 28.1 28.9 31.6 17 years 18.2 18.1 18.7 19.6 18 years 1.7 1.7 1.8 2.1 Provisional indications for the 1982–83 academic year are that the percentage of pupils remaining at school beyond the statutory leaving age increased over the previous year, though the increase was much less than between 1980–81 and 1981–82.