HC Deb 12 November 1996 vol 285 cc142-4W
Mr. Rowlands

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many candidates sat GCSE examinations in(a) Spanish and (b) Portuguese in each of the last six years for which figures are available; how many passed in each year; and what was the breakdown of passes by grade. [3458]

Mrs. Gillan

The numbers of candidates that sat GCSE in(a) Spanish and (b) Portuguese in each year since 1992 and their pass grades are as follows: comparable information is not available before 1992.

1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95
(a) Spanish
Number of candidates 27,334 29,370 34,341 37,970
Number achieving pass grades
Grade A* 1,985 2,234
Grade A 7,407 7,531 6,534 6,779
Grade B 4,141 4,685 5,464 6,020
Grade C 3,764 4,102 4,899 5,841
Grade D 3,433 3,869 4,503 5,667
Grade E 2,791 2,837 3,544 3,825
Grade F 3,012 2,918 3,527 3,683
Grade G 1,514 1,987 2,154 2,014
(b) Portuguese
Number of candidates 305 250 349 318
Number achieving pass grades
Grade A* 40 39
Grade A 161 138 148 125
Grade B 51 39 53 63
Grade C 45 36 43 45
Grade D 22 18 24 18
Grade E 11 2 12 10
Grade F 4 3 11 5
Grade G 2 1

Mr. Rowlands

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many candidates sat GCE advanced level examinations in(a) Spanish and (b) Portuguese in each of the last six years for which figures are available; how many passed in each year; and what was the breakdown of passes by grade. [3512]

Mrs. Gillan

The numbers of candidates who sat GCE advanced level examinations in(a) Spanish and (b) Portuguese in each year since 1992 are as follows: comparable information is not available before 1992.

GCE A level pass achieved
Number of candidates A B C D E
(a) Spanish
1991–92 4,244 877 819 779 683 535
GCE A level pass achieved
Number of candidates A B C D E
1992–93 4,363 911 858 786 713 501
1993–94 4,260 980 858 863 649 384
1994–95 4,222 910 866 810 640 461
(b) Portuguese
1991–92 139 34 35 34 11 15
1992–93 93 31 23 15 5 9
1993–94 131 40 46 21 12 3
1994–95 120 43 26 15 14 3

Mr. Rowlands

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students graduated from degree courses at United Kingdom universities in which a principal subject was(a) study of the Spanish language and (b) study of the Portuguese language, in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what projections can be made of the expected numbers in each of the next three years. [3513]

Mr. Forth

Information on students graduating in Portuguese or Spanish separately is not available for all of the years requested. The available information for the years 1990 to 1995 is given in the following table. Projections of graduates in individual subjects are not produced by the Department.

First degree graduated in Spanish, Portuguese and other Latin American languages
Year of graduation Numbers of graduates1
1990 214
1991 211
1992 279
1993 294
1994 328
1995 328
of which:
Spanish 232
Portuguese 1
Other Latin American languages 95
1Prior to 1995, the figures cover former University Funding Council funded establishments in the UK and former Polytechnic and Colleges Funding Council funded and FE establishments in England and Wales. The figures for 1995 relate to all HE institutions in the UK.

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