§ Ms HarmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many children there were in infant classes with over 30 children(a) in 1996 and (b) at the latest date for which figures are available in (i) each London borough and (ii) London. [152197]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisThe information requested is shown in the table.
Class size data were published in a Statistical Bulletin "Class Sizes and Pupil Teacher Ratios in England 2000" on 20 December 2000, copies of which are available from the Library, or alternatively can be accessed from the 303W Department for Education and Employment statistical website: www.dfee.gov.uk/statistics. Figures from this release show that in September 2000, there were just 30,000 infants in classes of over 30 compared with 485,000 in January 1998. Just 2 per cent. of infants are now in such classes compared with 29 per cent. in January 1998.
Number of pupils in infant classes over 30 January 1996 January 2000 September 2000 London 47,752 22,110 3,642 Inner London 6,004 2,766 757 Camden 127 93 93 City of London 0 0 0 Hackney 413 93 95 Hammersmith and Fulham 313 93 0 Haringey 566 124 32 Islington 443 162 159 Kensington and Chelsea 62 62 31 Lambeth 381 249 63 Lewisham 567 344 64 Newham 734 503 0 Southwark 707 409 31 Tower Hamlets 349 35 31 Wandsworth 1,118 568 1158 Westminster 224 31 0 Outer London 41,748 19,344 2,885 Barking and Dagenham 734 284 31 Barnet 730 217 62 Bexley 3,984 1,135 379 Brent 786 515 0 Bromley 5,121 2,139 188 Croydon 3,497 1,065 93 Ealing 2,499 968 124 Enfield 3,621 1,782 382 Greenwich 470 406 0 Harrow 1,929 746 224 Havering 2,439 1,804 604 Hillingdon 1,378 317 0 Hounslow 2,354 1,051 296 Kingston upon Thames 3,430 1,935 62 Merton 1,958 1,469 0 Redbridge 3,307 1,342 196 Richmond upon Thames 1,414 888 282 Sutton 1,077 680 31 Waltham Forest 1,020 601 31 1 Less than 95 per cent. of expected returns were received from these Local Education Authorities