§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils from secondary school went on to take A-levels in(a) the North West region, (b) Merseyside, (c) St. Helens and (d) England in each year since 1997. [137997]
§ Mr. MilibandThe precise information requested is not available. As the National Pupil Database is developed further, this type of analysis will be possible. As a proxy, the following tables show (i) the number of 17-year-old students who took at least one A level in 541W (a) the North West region, (b) Merseyside, (c) St. Helens LEA and (d) England in schools and colleges for the years 1997–2003 and (ii) the number of 15-year-old
(i) 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 a North West 22,309 23,403 22,854 22,755 24,095 27,084 28,077 b Merseyside 4,699 4,916 4,742 4,712 5,145 5,604 5,927 c St. Helens LEA 759 823 777 803 867 882 1,022 d England 192,418 198,225 196,743 193,913 203,121 219,455 228,454 Note:
Figures for 2003 are provisional
(ii) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 a North West 78,452 80,647 79,799 79,339 80,875 80,350 83,894 b Merseyside 16,735 16,959 16,920 17,001 17,282 16,817 17,810 c St. Helens LEA 2,210 2,193 2,200 2,256 2,195 2,088 2,237 d England 578,197 594,035 586,766 575,210 580,972 580,393 603,318 Although the exact information required is not currently available, a rough approximation can be obtained by dividing the number of 17-year-old A level students by the number of 15-year-old pupils two years before. It should be noted however that this is not based on data which tracks the same pupils over time.
The following figures approximately show the percentage of 15-year-old pupils who went on to take A levels at 17 in the North West region and in England.
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 North West 28 29 29 29 30 34 33 England 33 33 34 34 35 38 38 Similar figures for the Merseyside area and St. Helen's LEA are less accurate due to where students choose to pursue their further education studies.