Written question asked by Peter Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party) on Friday, 14 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 18 October 2005. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) on Monday, 24 October 2005 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Office.

Infant Schools

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the average infant school class size has been in each year since 1998; and what the total number of infant school pupils was in each year.

Answer

The requested information is as follows:

	Number ofyear 1–year 4 pupils	Average class size for year 1–year 4 pupils
1998–99	99,839	23.6
1999–2000	97,789	23.3
2000–01	95,195	23.2
2001–02	94,815	23.0
2002–03	93,980	22.9
2003–04	93,377	22.8
2004–05	92,406	22.8
⁽²¹⁾ Any composite class with pupils in years 5, 6 or 7 has been excluded.

Secondary information