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Equal Rights
Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the impact of the decisions made by the European Commission in its meeting of 7 June on equal rights legislation in the United Kingdom; and what his policy is thereon. [127185]
Ms Jowell: On 7 June the European Commission adopted a Communication on a Community framework strategy on gender equality 2001-05. The strategy includes a proposal that there be a Council Decision on a support programme. The Commission also adopted a proposal that there be a European Parliament and Council Directive amending the Equal Treatment Directive (76/207) on equality for men and women. The Government will study each of the proposals carefully (including any impact on domestic legislation such as the
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Sex Discrimination Act 1975) and report to Parliament in accordance with the usual procedures for scrutiny of European legislative proposals.
Class Sizes
Miss Geraldine Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will list the primary schools in Morecambe and Lunesdale which have received additional money to reduce class sizes. [127635]
Ms Estelle Morris: The schools in Morecambe and Lunesdale which have received additional funding as part of the Government's initiative to limit infant classes to 30 pupils are listed. £620 million is available to support the initiative, and allocations so far to Lancashire LEA amount to nearly £15 million. This has helped to reduce the size of the average Key Stage 1 class in Morecambe and Lunesdale to 26.0. The figure in January 1997 was 29.1.
- Morecambe and Heysham Sandylands Primary
Slyne with Hest, St. Luke's CE Primary
Nether Kellet Primary
Morecambe and Heysham Torrisholme Primary
Bolton-le-Sands CE Primary
Heysham St. Peter's CE Primary
Overton St. Helen's CE Primary
Great Wood Primary
Warton Archbishop Hutton's Primary
Carnforth North Road Primary
Lancaster Ryelands Primary
Skerton Community Primary
Morecambe Bay Community Primary
- Lancaster Road Primary
Morecambe and Heysham Trumacar Community Primary
Grosvenor Park Primary
Carnforth Christ Church CE VA Primary
St. Wilfrid's CE Primary
Poulton-le-Sands Ce Primary
Silverdale St. John's CE VA Primary
St. Patrick's Catholic Primary
Over Kellet Wilson's Endowed CE Primary
St. Mary's Catholic Primary.
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 26 June 2000]: The latest available information on class sizes in the Parliamentary constituency of Warrington, North is shown in the table.
Provisional national estimates of Key Stage 1 class sizes for January 2000 were recently published in a Statistical First Release "Class sizes in maintained schools in England: January 2000 (15/2000)" on 12 April 2000. Class size information broken down by local education authority area is also available from the House of Commons Library.
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National figures for infant class sizes in September 1999 were published in Statistical First Release "Infant class sizes in England (2/2000)" on 21 January 2000.
The Government are well on course to limit all infant classes for five, six and 7-year-olds to 30 or below by September 2001 at the latest.
| Number of pupils in classes of over 30(19) | Percentage of pupils in classes of over 30 | |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | ||
| Warrington North | 1,450 | 34 |
| England | 476,820 | 29 |
| 2000 | ||
| Warrington North | 710 | 18 |
| England | 177,020 | 11 |
(18) Provisional
(19) Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10 pupils
Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the cost of (a) reducing all primary school class sizes to 25 pupils or fewer and (b) introducing a maximum average class size of 25 in primary schools; and if he will make a statement. [127507]
Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 27 June 2000]: It has been estimated that the cost of reducing class sizes to 25 for all primary school children would be around £3 billion. We have not made an estimate of the cost of a maximum average class size of 25 in primary schools.
The size of the average primary class fell for the second year running between January 1999 and January 2000, from 27.5 to 27.1, after rising for the previous 10 years. The size of the average primary class in the Truro and St. Austell parliamentary constituency has gone down from 27.5 in January 1997 to 27.2 in January 2000.
At the same time, we are well on the way to delivering our pledge to limit infant classes to 30 pupils. £620 million is available to support the pledge, and allocations so far to Cornwall LEA amount to some £3.5 million. This has helped to reduce the size of the average Key Stage 1 class in Truro and St. Austell to 24.9. The figure in January 1997 was 25.4.
Disability Access
Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many toilets at buildings owned or controlled by his Department (a) have and (b) do not have access for disabled people. [127598]
Mr. Wills [holding answer 27 June 2000]: Central records are not kept on the total number of toilets in buildings owned or controlled by the Department. This information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Specialist toilet facilities for disabled people are currently available in over 700 (64 per cent.) of these buildings, and we intend to increase the number of buildings that have facilities for disabled people as soon as practicable.
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Teacher Vacancies
Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many teacher vacancies in (i) maintained nursery schools, (ii) maintained primary schools and (iii) maintained secondary schools there were in (a) Great Britain and (b) each local education authority, for each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [127208]
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Ms Estelle Morris [holding answer 23 June 2000]: The following table shows the number of full-time teacher vacancies in maintained nursery and primary schools 1 and maintained secondary schools, in England, January 1997 to 2000, by local authority 2 .
- 1 Teacher vacancies in nursery schools are not collected separately.
- 2 New unitary local authorities created by local government re-organisation are shown immediately following the reference to their former local authority.
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The supply of teachers in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament, and in Wales, the responsibility of the National Assembly for Wales.
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