HC Deb 03 November 1997 vol 300 cc33-4W
Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what proportion of four-year-olds in maintained reception classes had staffing ratios worse than 1 to 13 on 30 Janaury 1997. [14071]

Mr. Byers

Information about pupils and teachers in reception classes is not collected centrally.

Mr. Don Foster

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many four-year-olds were in(a) maintained reception classes, (b) maintained nursery classes or schools and (c) voluntary and private settings (i) on 23 September 1997 and (ii) in January 1996. [14073]

Mr. Byers

The available information on four-year-olds in Janaury 1996 is shown in the following table.

Pupils aged 4 years of age in schools in England: January 1996
School type Pupils1
Maintained nursery schools and nursery classes 154,982
Infant classes in Primary schools2 343,436
Independent schools3 27,413
1 Full-time and part-time pupils aged 4 years at 31 December 1995 (born between 1 January and 31 December 1991).
2 Includes reception and other classes.
3 Includes pupils in direct grant nursery schools.

Information on four-year-olds in schools and private and voluntary provision on 23 September 1997 will be available towards the end of the year.