§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the number of schools in each local authority in which children are sharing textbooks and as to what proportion of all school children this represents.
§ Mr. DunnThe Department does not collect information in this form. Her Majesty's Inspectors judged, in their report on the effects of local expenditure policies on education provision in England, 1984, itself based on information collected in the autumn term of 1984, that in primary schools the level of book provision was satisfactory or better in over four-fifths of local education authorities, and that for the 11–16 and 16–19 age groups the provision was satisfactory or better in nearly two-thirds and just over three-quarters of LEAs respectively. HMI noted in the report that for all age groups book provision in 1984–85 was better than it has been in 1983–84.