Written question asked by James Clappison (Conservative) on Wednesday, 12 April 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 17 April 2000. It was answered by Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour) on Monday, 17 April 2000 on behalf of the Department for Education and Employment.

Dept for Education and Employment

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, if he will list each local authority with pupils in classes of 36 or more taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools, indicating the number of such pupils in each such local authority. - Inc figures and ref to 'Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000 (15/2000) in Library Dep 00/702).

Answer: Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list each local authority with pupils in classes of 36 or more taught by one teacher in maintained secondary schools, indicating the number of such pupils in each such local authority. [119410] Ms Estelle Morris: Information on classes of size 36 or more for secondary schools by local education authority area has been placed in the Library. Provisional national estimates of class sizes in maintained secondary schools, which were published on 12 April, found reductions between January 1999 and 2000 in the numbers of pupils in classes of 36 or more taught by one teacher. Overall, only 0.2 per cent. of pupils in maintained secondary schools in England were in classes of over 35 pupils. For 14 and 15-year-old pupils, as few as 0.1 per cent. of pupils are in classes over 35, representing a fall of nearly one half between January 1999 and 2000. Similarly, within the same time period, the number of pupils aged 16 or more in classes over 35 fell to only 775 pupils, a reduction in the number of pupils of about one third. These figures were published in a Statistical First Release, "Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000 (15/2000)".

Secondary information