HC Deb 07 July 1998 vol 315 cc484-5W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if Government funding will be provided to non-denominational schools for new classrooms in order to meet the target of class sizes of 30 or under for five to seven year olds. [49292]

Mr. Byers

Yes. Denominational and non-denominational schools alike will benefit from the £40 million allocated to reduce infant class sizes, announced on 3 July.

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many Church primary schools in Chorley will benefit from Government funding for new classrooms in order to reduce class sizes to 30 or under. [49291]

Mr. Byers

St. Laurence Church of England Primary School, Chorley, the only Church primary school in Chorley put forward, has been allocated £66,329 in 1998–99 to fund an additional classroom to reduce infant class sizes to 30 or below. More funding will be made available in future years where additional classrooms are needed to reduce infant class sizes.

Mr. Ennis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the average class size in(a) primary and (b) secondary schools in (i) Barnsley and (ii) Doncaster. [45823]

Mr. Byers

The latest available information for Barnsley and Doncaster Local Education Authority areas is shown in the table.

Average size of classes taught by one teacher in maintained Primary and secondary schools—January 1998 (Provisional)
Primary secondary
Barnsley LEA area 29.1 23.4
Doncaster LEA area 28.2 21.5

Mrs. Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the costs of reducing class sizes to under 30 for all pupils in the first three years of school in the years(a) 1998–99 and (b) 1999–2000. [48361]

Mr. Byers

[holding answer 6 July 1998]: Our pledge is to reduce infant class sizes to 30 or below by the end of the Parliament using the savings made from phasing out the Assisted Places Scheme. For 1998–99, we have allocated £62 million for extra teachers and classrooms to help LEAs and schools to begin to achieve the pledge.