§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many independent schools there are in Wales; and what information he has as to how many 388W children attend them, as to the proportion of the total school population this represents, and as to the comparable figures for each of the last five years.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasThe information is as follows and refers to 1 January for each year:
*1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Number of independent schools 71 72 71 73 70 Number of full-time and part-time pupils 12,703 12,795 12,348 11,247 11,427 Pupils as a proportion of total school population (%) 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.3 2.2 * Figures include information on 3 direct grant schools, which, from 1980–81 became independent.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Wales how many pupils attend independent school sixth forms in Wales; and what proportion of the total number of sixth form pupils in Wales this represents.
§ Mr. John Stradling ThomasInformation on the number of pupils in the sixth forms of independent schools is not collected centrally. The number of pupils at independent schools in January 1984, who were aged 16 and over at the beginning of the school year, total 1,576. This number represented 6.6 per cent. of pupils aged 16 and over at all maintained secondary and independent schools.