Written question asked by Lord Lewis of Newnham (Crossbench), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Adonis (Labour) on Thursday, 29 March 2007.

Schools: Science

Question: asked Her Majesty's Government:How many students in (a) state, and (b) independent schools have taken GCSE courses in (i) biology; (ii) chemistry; (iii) physics; and (iv) combined science in each of the years 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006

Answer

The information requested on the attempts in GCSE science is shown in the following table.

GCSE attempts in science subjects in schools 2002-2006
	Biology	Chemistry	Physics	Combined Science
	Maintained	Independent	Maintained	Independent	Maintained	Independent	Maintained	Independent
2002	24,664	15,862	23,849	15,218	23,759	14,881	496,357	21,774
2003	27,728	14,895	26,730	14,135	26,228	13,836	504,212	23,274
2004	29,727	15,031	28,623	14,450	28,333	14,168	509,723	24,862
2005	32,838	15,509	31,248	14,681	30,954	14,483	489,608	26,903
2006	36,261	15,502	34,587	14,654	34,299	14,472	486,214	28,027

Secondary information