§ Mr. SoamesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many(a) primary school and (b) secondary school pupils were in classes of 30 or more in (i) West Sussex and (ii) Mid Sussex constituency in each of the years from 1994–95 to 2000–01. [148353]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 2 February 2001]: The Government have pledged to reduce the size of infant classes to a maximum of 30 by the end of this Parliament. We have already achieved this in the vast majority of schools.
The information requested is set out in the following table. This shows that the number of primary classes in 765W West Sussex with 31 or more has fallen by over 2,500 since 1998. By September 2,000, there were only 472 (2 per cent.) infant pupils in classes over 30 compared
West Sussex LEA Year Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 1–29 Primary Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 30 Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 31+ Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 1–29 Secondary Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 30 Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 31+ 2000 35,341 10,680 13,158 32,228 3,390 3,506 1999 35,909 7,530 15,849 32,227 3,090 3,475 1998 35,346 7.560 15,791 31,031 3,210 3,410 1997 34,524 6,180 15,337 31,610 3,120 3,306 1996 34,151 5,550 14,447 32,003 2,820 3,119 1995 34,905 5,340 12,879 31,627 2,670 2,954
Mid Sussex parliamentary constituency Year Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 1–29 Primary Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 30 Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 31+ Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 1–29 Secondary Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 30 Number of pupils in 1 teacher classes of size 31+ 2000 5,007 1,260 1,385 5,848 500 540 1999 4,872 750 2,140 5,900 780 511 1998 4,516 930 2,146 5,727 720 441 1997 4,271 3,084 2,184 5,784 570 572 1996 — 1— 1— — 1— 1— 1995 — 1— 1— — 1— 1— 1 Not available