HC Deb 14 May 1999 vol 331 c236W
Mr. Paul Marsden

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many classes for five to seven-year-olds in(a) Shrewsbury and Atcham and (b) Shropshire had over 30 pupils in each year from 1992 to date; and if he will make a statement. [83962]

Ms Estelle Morris

The available information is shown in the following table.

We have recently approved Shropshire Education Authority's class size implementation plan, which will mean that no infant pupils in Shropshire will be in classes of over 30 from September 2000. To support that plan in 1999–2000 we have allocated to Shropshire £540,000 for additional teachers and £249,000 for extra classrooms.

Number of Keystage 1 classes taught by one teacher with 31 or more pupils: England
January each year Shropshire1 Shropshire2 Telford and of Wrekin Constituency of Shrewsbury and Atcham
1996 111
1997 109
1998 100
1999 34 17 9
1Before Local Government re-organisation of April 1998
1After Local Government re-organisation of April 1998