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Foreign Consulates

Mr. Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list the countries which have (a) established consulates in Wales and (b) made inquiries about establishing consulates in Wales; and if he will make a statement. [87460]

18 Jun 1999 : Column: 238

Mr. Hain: The Republic of Ireland has recently established a Consulate in Cardiff. The following countries have established Honorary Consulates in Wales: Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Tunisia, and Turkey. I understand there are no requests at present from other countries to establish a Consulate in Wales.

The establishment of a Consular presence in Wales by a particular country is a matter for the Government of that country. I can see that a Consular presence could bring many advantages to both countries. I would welcome any proposals to establish Consulate offices in Wales.

EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT

Training

Mr. Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if a participant on a European Social Fund course of training is covered by the Department's Analogous Industrial Injuries Compensation Scheme. [85755]

Mr. Andrew Smith: Unemployed people participating in DfEE funded work-based training schemes which are receiving ESF assistance are covered by the DfEE's Analogous Industrial Injuries Scheme. Unemployed people who are participating in Work Trials, or the new deal, programmes supported by the Employment Service, are also covered by the scheme.

The Analogous Industrial Injuries Scheme applies only to ESF courses where the matched funding comes from DfEE funding for programmes for which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has already decided it may apply. People participating in other courses supported by ESF are not covered by the scheme.

Mr. Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what is the maximum number of hours per week that a trainee on a European Social Fund training course can undertake without affecting his entitlement to receive jobseeker's allowance. [85752]

Mr. Andrew Smith: A jobseeker may undertake a training course, whether or not part-funded by ESF, providing he is not a full-time student and he continues to meet the Jobseeker's Allowance entitlement conditions. An Employment Service Adjudication Officer will determine, in each case, whether the jobseeker is a full-time or a part-time student.

Under the Jobseekers Act 1995, a person must be available for employment in order to be entitled to JSA, and under regulation 11 of the Jobseeker's Allowance Regulations 1996, a part-time student may, in prescribed circumstances, be available for employment. The maximum number of hours of study a student can undertake and still be considered a 'part-time' student is not fixed by the Regulations in every case. 'Full-time student' is defined in regulation 1(3). Paragraph (b)(ii) of that definition specifies an FEFC funded course of more than 16 hours a week, but paragraph (b)(i) which deals with non-FEFC funded courses, does not specify a number of hours.

18 Jun 1999 : Column: 239

Class Sizes

Mr. Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list, by local authority, (a) the number of pupils in classes of more than 30, (b) the percentage of pupils in classes of 31 or more,

18 Jun 1999 : Column: 240

(c) the average class size and (d) the total number of pupils in maintained (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in January 1997. [86975]

Ms Estelle Morris: The information is shown in the following table:

18 Jun 1999 : Column: 239

Number and percentage of pupils in classes of 31 or more taught by one teacher and pupils onroll in maintained primary and secondary schools by Local Education Authority area in England January 1997

	Primary schools				Secondary schools
	Pupils in class				Pupils in class
	Pupils in classes of 31 or more	(%)(1)	Average size of class(2)	Pupils on roll(3)	Pupils in classes of 31 or more	(%)(1)	Average size of class(2)	Pupils on roll(3)
England	1,344,231	33	27.5	4,429,043	245,420	9	21.7	3,041,584
North East	68,173	30	27.2	248,434	14,665	9	22.0	177,905
Hartlepool	2,833	30	28.0	10.538	413	7	22.0	6,176
Middlesbrough	3,700	24	26.5	17,267	349	4	22.0	8,608
Redcar and Cleveland	4,576	31	27.4	16,680	549	6	22.2	10,161
Stockton-on-Tees	4,507	24	26.8	20,531	415	3	22.2	12,517
Durham	21,429	41	28.5	57,442	3,398	10	22.5	37,976
Northumberland	8,314	43	27.0	21,839	3,959	15	22.6	30,052
Gateshead	2,112	13	25.8	18,566	662	6	20.4	11,745
Newcastle upon Tyne	6,904	34	27.6	22,220	1,569	10	21.5	17,378
North Tyneside	4,779	31	27.1	17.027	1,419	11	21.9	14,369
South Tyneside	3,996	28	27.0	16,175	758	8	22.7	9,724
Sunderland	5,023	18	26.0	30.149	1,174	7	21.3	19,199
North West and Merseyside	242,764	39	27.9	686,676	42,673	10	21.8	437,763
North West	201,712	41	28.1	539,526	34,935	11	22.0	341,745
Cheshire	33,630	39	27.5	92,808	7,140	12	21.3	65,767
Cumbria	11,984	29	26.3	44,895	3,406	11	21.2	32,372
Bolton	11,422	49	28.9	28,512	2,324	14	22.1	17,798
Bury	7,178	44	28.3	18,095	1,510	14	23.1	11,100
Manchester	10,615	25	27.2	46,356	1,801	9	22.4	22,233
Oldham	10,645	48	29.3	25,111	1,048	7	22.2	16,676
Rochdale	9,004	45	29.6	22,354	1,325	11	22.8	13,168
Salford	7,043	31	27.3	23,828	501	4	22.1	12,078
Stockport	9,446	37	27.8	26,941	947	6	23.1	15,677
Tameside	11,566	53	29.3	23,830	1,195	9	23.0	14,220
Trafford	9,693	50	28.9	21,462	609	5	21.7	13,225
Wigan	11,098	42	28.5	30,276	1,311	7	21.5	19,984
Lancashire	58,388	47	28.8	135,058	11,818	14	22.5	87,447
Merseyside	41,052	31	27.1	147,150	7,738	9	20.9	96,018
Knowsley	5,820	33	27.7	19,788	579	6	22.1	9,670
Liverpool	12,581	27	26.8	49,345	2,936	10	21.1	31,767
St. Helens	6,270	41	27.8	18,027	1,265	11	19.9	11,873
Sefton	9,634	38	27.6	28,115	1,269	7	21.1	19,630
Wirral	6,747	23	26.3	31,875	1,689	8	20.5	23,078
Yorkshire and Humberside	159,744	37	27.9	482,447	27,167	9	21.9	334,065
East Riding of Yorkshire	10,254	40	28.3	27,126	1,148	6	21.0	20,789
City of Kingston-upon-Hull	10,164	39	28.8	28,446	1,345	9	24.3	15,082
North East Lincolnshire	6,228	40	28.1	17,265	1,445	14	23.2	11,185
North Lincolnshire	4,932	36	27.7	14,972	1,281	13	22.5	10,398
York	4,961	35	27.6	14,905	670	8	21.6	9,320
North Yorkshire	15,129	34	26.3	47.927	2,174	6	20.6	37,039
Barnsley	9,082	44	28.9	22,216	726	6	23.2	12,932
Doncaster	10,052	35	28.1	31,343	979	5	21.5	20,734
Rotherham	8,094	34	27.7	25,822	1,276	8	21.6	19,150
Sheffield	11,261	28	26.9	46,380	2,054	8	22.7	27,447
Bradford	13,443	39	28.3	42,327	5,771	14	23.2	46,179
Calderdale	6,185	33	28.0	20.605	884	7	20.9	14,067
Kirklees	15,730	48	29.0	38,649	2,504	11	22.5	25,564
Leeds	22,031	35	28.3	71,508	2,819	7	20.7	44,423
Wakefield	12,198	41	28.2	32,956	2,091	11	22.2	19,756
East Midlands	133,725	39	27.8	377,257	18,359	7	21.6	272,020
Derbyshire	44,864	55	29.3	89,507	6,067	11	22.2	58,890
Leicestershire	22,862	30	26.7	83,027	3,489	6	22.3	61,800
Lincolnshire	14,644	29	26.9	53,619	1,525	4	20.2	39,997
Northamptonshire	13,015	26	27.0	54,701	2,034	5	21.0	45,934
Nottinghamshire	38,340	44	28.7	96,403	5,244	9	21.7	65,399
West Midlands	152,230	33	27.4	511,667	37,160	11	22.0	350,644
Hereford and Worcester	12,527	25	26.0	52,887	6,286	14	22.0	47,636
Shropshire	13,545	38	27.4	38,067	2,778	12	21.9	26,109
Staffordshire	31,492	35	27.5	96,437	9,818	15	22.2	71,712
Warwickshire	17,493	43	28.5	43,662	2,397	9	22.2	30,280
Birmingham	24,848	26	27.7	109,673	7,776	13	21.8	66,867
Coventry	8,641	31	27.6	30,478	1,846	10	22.6	19,738
Dudley	6,904	27	26.5	30,884	671	4	23.1	18,912
Sandwell	12,606	44	28.9	32,962	1,343	7	21.7	19,087
Solihull	8,478	43	27.9	21,581	1,141	8	21.9	14,387
Walsall	7,527	32	26.2	28,743	1,813	10	20.7	20,078
Wolverhampton	8,169	38	26.9	26,293	1,291	9	21.0	15,838
Eastern	121,738	29	26.9	448,359	22,874	7	21.3	348,217
Bedfordshire	12,890	33	27.4	44,748	3,330	8	22.5	46,378
Cambridgeshire	20,831	36	28.2	60,924	3,793	10	22.1	42,018
Essex	38,831	30	27.3	136,385	8,263	9	21.7	97,649
Hertfordshire	27,264	33	27.1	92,397	5,291	8	20.3	70,982
Norfolk	13,402	22	25.9	66,666	919	2	20.2	41,583
Suffolk	8,520	19	25.0	47,239	1,278	3	21.1	49,607
London	117,578	22	27.1	624,655	22,096	7	21.7	375,145
Inner London	15,393	8	26.3	226,370	3,992	4	22.4	117,536
City of London	0	0	26.0	208	(4)--	(4)--	(4)--	(4)--
Camden	698	8	27.1	11,294	188	2	20.3	10,932
Hackney	824	6	26.1	18,141	312	5	22.3	7,347
Hammersmith and Fulham	1,106	14	25.3	9,465	511	10	22.6	6,040
Haringey	851	5	26.9	21,610	290	3	21.6	10,069
Islington	702	5	26.6	16,232	270	4	24.0	7,580
Kensington and Chelsea	219	4	25.3	6,568	161	6	20.2	3,313
Lambeth	1,192	8	25.2	19,193	252	4	21.9	6,589
Lewisham	1,207	7	26.1	21,984	0	0	20.7	10,857
Newham	3,021	13	27.9	28,543	313	2	24.5	15,655
Southwark	1,748	9	26.4	23,182	639	8	24.4	9,157
Tower Hamlets	1,047	6	26.2	22,472	197	2	24.0	13,060
Wandsworth	2,299	15	25.8	17,874	691	9	22.0	9,280
Westminster	479	7	24.2	9,604	168	3	21.5	7,657
Outer London	102,185	30	27.5	398,285	18,104	8	21.4	257,609
Barking and Dagenham	2,022	13	27.0	17,883	840	9	20.8	10,143
Barnet	2,456	11	26.2	25,981	689	4	19.8	19,783
Bexley	9,314	45	28.8	22,223	1,982	14	21.8	15,317
Brent	2,383	13	26.5	22,478	353	3	20.5	13,565
Bromley	13,110	55	28.5	24,292	1,844	11	20.4	18,648
Croydon	7,042	26	28.3	30,432	1,339	9	22.2	15,481
Ealing	5,258	22	27.1	27,213	894	7	22.4	14,182
Enfield	9,965	46	29.1	26,028	1,751	10	20.7	18,959
Greenwich	2,126	12	26.0	21,608	469	4	22.5	13,644
Harrow	3,663	22	27.5	19,971	98	1	22.9	8,304
Havering	5,763	29	27.9	21,001	981	7	21.7	14,703
Hillingdon	5,212	28	27.2	22,440	1,457	10	21.1	15,010
Hounslow	4,907	29	26.8	19,828	1,052	8	21.0	15,286
Kingston-upon-Thames	6,682	66	29.4	11,530	912	12	20.2	8,184
Merton	3,676	29	27.3	16,159	542	8	22.7	7,619
Redbridge	8,074	46	28.4	21,103	1,415	10	21.0	16,842
Richmond-upon-Thames	2,671	25	27.2	12,074	194	3	24.0	7,688
Sutton	5,222	40	28.1	14,630	791	7	20.7	12,416
Waltham Forest	2,639	15	26.6	21,411	501	5	23.6	11,835
South East	205,178	33	27.5	653,419	32,106	8	21.3	454,813
Berkshire	18,680	32	27.5	64,851	3,846	8	20.7	49,652
Buckinghamshire	23,085	38	27.9	66,291	3,453	10	21.3	38,312
East Sussex	23,330	46	28.2	55,821	2,093	6	21.4	36,281
Hampshire	47,671	36	27.9	139,425	5,211	6	22.2	86,211
Isle of Wight	1,639	23	25.9	7,387	853	8	22.3	10,969
Kent	47,339	36	28.0	137,962	4,523	5	20.3	104,812
Oxfordshire	13,090	31	27.2	44,733	3,975	12	22.2	36,531
Surrey	15,007	20	26.2	78,781	4,846	10	21.7	51,703
West Sussex	15,337	27	26.8	58,168	3,306	9	21.6	40,342
South West	143,101	38	27.5	396,129	28,320	10	21.7	291,012
Bath and NE Somerset	3,579	29	27.0	13,111	766	7	20.7	11,483
City of Bristol	9,905	32	27.2	33,642	672	4	21.1	16,518
North Somerset	4,675	33	27.8	14,775	816	8	20.4	11,882
South Gloucestershire	9,563	45	28.5	22,596	1,599	12	21.5	15,216
Cornwall	16,082	40	27.3	41,862	2,756	10	22.0	29,815
Isles of Scilly	33	21	17.3	160	0	0	21.0	108
Devon	31,181	38	27.4	84,938	6,039	11	21.4	62,047
Dorset	22,462	50	28.2	48,479	4,544	11	21.8	43,583
Gloucestershire	15,280	34	27.4	46,248	3,677	11	21.5	34,961
Somerset	14,096	38	27.6	38,509	3,840	14	23.2	28,854
Wiltshire	16,245	32	27.2	51,809	3,611	11	21.7	36,545

(1) Pupils in classes of size 31 or more expressed as a percentage of all pupils in classes taught by one teacher

(2) All classes taught by one teacher

(3) Includes pupils in classes taught by more than one teacher and pupils not in class

(4) Not applicable (no schools of this type)

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18 Jun 1999 : Column: 243

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