HC Deb 10 May 2004 vol 421 c33W
John Mann

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many new classroom assistant positions have been created in England in the last seven years. [171313]

Mr. Miliband

The Department collects information on the number of classroom assistants employed in England in January of each year. In January 2004 there were, provisionally, 132,600 teaching assistants employed on a full-time equivalent basis in maintained schools in England, an increase of 71,400 since January 1997.