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Written question asked by Chris Huhne (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 11 September 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 18 September 2006. It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Thursday, 12 October 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Truancy

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to the answer of 24 July 2006, Official Report, column 852W, on truancy, how many pupils there were in maintained mainstream secondary schools in each year since 1997-98 in (a) rural and (b) non-rural areas; what definition of rurality his Department uses; and if he will make a statement.
Answer

[holding answer 18 September 2006]: The pupil numbers requested are given in the following table.

Number of pupils in maintained mainstream secondary schools¹ in England
Rural areas Urban areas Total
1997/98 389,283 2,620,531 3,009,814
1998/99 402,315 2,704,363 3,106,678
1999/2000 414,166 2,755,831 3,169,997
2000/01 418,311 2,789,619 3,207,930
2001/02 428,546 2,829,683 3,258.229
2002/03 435,721 2,863,511 3,299,232
2003/04 440,185 2,882,159 3,322,344
2004/05 445,273 2,880,806 3,326,079
2005/06² 446,159 2,888,092 3,334,251
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed. Excludes city technology colleges.
² Provisional.

The urban and rural classifications used in this table are based on those drawn up in 2004 by the Countryside Agency, DEFRA, ODPM, ONS and the Welsh Assembly Government. The classification is based on population densities across the whole spectrum of ‘settlements’, or built-up areas, in England and Wales. Urban areas are defined as settlements with a population of 10,000 or more. Census Output Areas (OAs) are described as urban or rural depending on whether the majority of the population falls inside a settlement of population 10,000 or more.Secondly, the classification enables areas to be defined as predominantly urban or predominantly town and fringe, predominantly village or predominantly dispersed (which includes hamlets and isolated dwellings). The town and fringe, village, hamlet and isolated dwelling classifications are taken as being rural.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
91237; 450 c817-8W;450 c823-4W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Truancy
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk