§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many Parliamentary Questions have been tabled to his Department since 1 January 2003, broken down by(a) ordinary written and (b) named day; what percentage in respect of (a) were answered within 10 working days; and what percentage in respect of (b) were answered by the specified date. [157517]
§ Mr. Stephen TwiggMinisters take responses to Parliamentary Questions very seriously, and try to answer within the Parliamentary deadline wherever possible. Since 1 January 2003, 3,743 ordinary written questions have been tabled to the Department for Education and Skills, 72 per cent. of which were answered within 10 working days. 797 named day questions were tabled in the same period. We are unable to provide the percentage of those questions answered by the specified date without incurring disproportionate cost.
1214W
Average class size1: Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton local education authorities position in January each year Hampshire2 Hampshire3 Portsmouth3 Southampton3 1997 Key Stage 1 27.5 — — — Key Stage 2 28.2 — — — Pupils aged mainly under 14 in maintained secondary schools 23.9 — — — 1998 Key Stage 1 — 28.0 27.8 27.0 Key Stage 2 — 28.6 28.1 28.8 Pupils aged mainly under 14 in maintained secondary schools — 24.3 23.9 23.5 1999 Key Stage 1 — 27.8 27.5 27.0 Key Stage 2 — 28.6 28.7 28.4 Pupils aged mainly under 14 in maintained secondary schools — 24.9 24.8 24.4 2000 Key Stage 1 — 27.3 26.1 26.8 Key Stage 2 — 28.7 28.6 28.6 Pupils aged mainly under 14 in maintained secondary schools — 25.0 24.9 23.4 2001 Key Stage 1 — 26.3 25.3 26.2 Key Stage 2 — 28.4 28.2 28.7 Pupils in year groups 7, 8 and 9 in maintained secondary schools — 25.0 24.1 24.4 2002 Key Stage 1 — 26.0 24.8 26.7 Key Stage 2 — 28.0 27.6 28.1 Pupils in year groups 7, 8 and 9 in maintained secondary schools — 25.0 24.7 23.5 2003 Key Stage l3 — 26.2 25.1 26.2 Key Stage 2 — 28.1 26.9 28.2 Pupils in year groups 7, 8 and 9 in maintained secondary schools — 24.9 24.0 24.5 1Classes taught by one teacher 2Before local government reorganisation 3After local government reorganisation 4Includes Reception classes to produce a coverage as close as possible to that available in previous years. Source: Annual Schools' Census