§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what the teacher-to-pupil ratio was in East Sussex(a) for children aged between five and seven years, (b) for children aged eight to 11 years, (c) for all primary schools in the county and (d) for all secondary schools in the county in (i) 1997–98, (ii) 1998–99 and (iii) 1999–2000. [135736]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 31 October 2000]: The information is not available in the form requested. The available information requested on pupil-teacher ratios and class sizes for the East Sussex region is shown in the following tables.
The latest infant class size data for September 2000 were published in a Statistical First Release "Infant Class sizes in England 2000" on 1 November, copies of which 192W are available from the Library, or alternatively can be accessed from the Department's statistical website www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics. Figures from this release showed that since September 1998 6,065 five, six and seven-year-olds in East Sussex have benefited from the Government's infant class size initiative. As few as 2.3 per cent. of the relevant age group remained in infant classes of 31 or over. Some £620 million is available to support the pledge, and allocations so far to East Sussex LEA amount to over £4 million. This has helped to reduce the size of the average infant class in East Sussex LEA to 25.6 in September 2000 from 27.1 in September 1998.
The Government are delivering their pledge to limit infant classes for five, six and seven-year-olds to 30 or below early. When the Government came to power, there were nearly half a million children in large infant classes. By September 2000, this has been reduced to some 30,000 children.
January 2000 saw a fall in the size of the average junior class in England; and a continuing fall in the size of the average primary class, after rising for a decade. The size of the average secondary class in England, at 22, is still five below the average primary class. Secondary headteachers are receiving an average of £50,000 this year (£60,000 from April 2001) in direct grant to spend as they choose. If this were spent on recruiting teachers, the average secondary class size could be reduced by up to 0.8.
Pupil-teacher ratios (PTRs) in maintained primary and secondary schools in the local education authority area of East Sussex, 1997–2000 Position as at January Primary Secondary 2000 22.4 17.1 1999 23.8 16.9 1998 23.2 16.6 1997 22.8 16.2
Average size of Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 classes taught by one teacher in the local education authority of East Sussex, 1997–2000 Position as at January KS 1 KS 2 2000 26.1 30.2 1999 27.5 29.9 1998 27.3 29.4 1997 27.9 28.9
Average size of infant classes (5, 6 and 7-year-olds) taught by one teacher in the local education authority area of East Sussex, 1998–2000 Position as at September Average class size Number of pupils in classes of over 30 children Percentage of pupils in classes of over 30 children Total number of pupils 2000 25.6 316 2.3 13,506 1999 25.9 1,813 13.3 13,662 1998 27.1 6,381 43 14,947