Written question asked by Gerry Steinberg (Labour) on Thursday, 5 April 2001, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 April 2001. It was answered by Baroness Morris of Yardley (Labour) on Monday, 23 April 2001 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, how many classes in UK primary schools excluding years one, two and three have more than 30 children in them. - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Steinberg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many classes in UK primary schools excluding years one, two and three have more than 30 children in them. [157828] Ms Estelle Morris: The number of key stage two classes in England, taught by one teacher, with 31 or more pupils was 22,817 (29.5 per cent.) in January 2001. The equivalent figure for January 1998 was 25,295 (34.3 per cent.). For information for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, I refer my hon. Friend to the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly respectively. Nationally, average class sizes for primary children have fallen under this Government. At Key Stage 1 the figure has gone down from 27.1 in January 1998 to 25.2 in January 2001. At Key Stage 2 the figure has gone down from 28.3 in January 1998 to 27.9 in 2001. This is a reflection of the fact that delivery of our infant class size pledge is not being achieved at the expense of bigger junior classes. We are making £73 million available in 2001-02 to make further progress on class sizes at Key Stage 2.

Secondary information