§ Mr. Nellistasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science by how much the number of secondary school and primary school places has fallen in each year since 1974; and what are his current targets for reductions in 1985, 1986 and 1987.
§ Mr. DunnLatest targets for the removal of surplus places in primary and secondary schools were published in the public expenditure White Paper, Cmnd. 9428: the target for the period April 1975 to March 1985 was 790,000 places accumulating to over one million places by March 1987. A separate target for March 1986 was not published. The reduction in the numbers of primary and secondary school places in the years for which the information is available are as follows:
'000 places Primary Secondary Cumulative total April 1975 to June 1978 47.0 26.8 73.8 July 1978 to December 1979 47.3 18.1 139.2 1980 63.2 18.8 221.2 1981 128.5 43.9 393.6 1982 111.2 37.6 542.4 1983 102.3 55.1 699.8 1984 88.4 66.9 855.1