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Annual Report

Norman Lamb: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much producing his Department's latest Annual Report cost; how many copies were printed; how many copies of it were sold at its cover price; to whom copies of the report have been provided free of charge; and how many copies were provided free of charge. [90880]

Mr. Charles Clarke: The Department pays for the design and typesetting of its departmental Annual Report. The costs of printing are met by the publisher, The Stationery Office (TSO). The Department buys in copies from the TSO at a discount to distribute to Ministers, Ofsted, the Education and Skills Select Committee, DfES and House of Commons Libraries, senior managers and some of our partners and stakeholders.

At the time of this answer, 1,166 copies have been sold, including 750 purchased by the Department.

The cost to the Department of typesetting and design was £42,346 and buying in copies from TSO cost £16,773. The total cost to the Department was therefore £59,119.

Class Sizes

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the class sizes of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Haltemprice and Howden for the current academic year. [92852]

Mr. Miliband: In January 2002, the average class size (taught by one teacher) in primary and secondary schools in Haltemprice and Howden parliamentary constituency was 27.2 pupils and 22 pupils respectively. This compares with the average class size (taught by one teacher) in primary and secondary schools in England of 26.3 pupils and 21.9 pupils respectively.

Class Sizes (Kirklees)

Ann Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the class sizes of (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Kirklees in each of the last five years. [93788]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is shown in the table.

Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽²⁾, average class size⁽³⁾, Kirklees local education authority

Position in January each year	Primary	Secondary
1998	29.3	22.3
1999	28.5	22.8
2000	27.6	23.0
2001	26.8	22.6
2002	27.0	22.9

⁽²⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.

⁽³⁾ Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census.

Source:

Annual School's Census.

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GCSE Results

Mr. Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the secondary modern schools that achieved better results at GCSE than the average for all-ability comprehensive schools in 2001. [88938]

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Mr. Miliband: The secondary modern schools which achieved better results at GCSE than the average of 47 per cent. for all-ability comprehensive schools in England in 2001 are as listed:

School	Town	County	Percentage of 15-year-olds achieving 5 or more GCSE grades A*- C or GNVQ equivalent
Hillview School for Girls	Tonbridge	Kent	75
Tolworth Girls' School and Centre for Continuing Education	Surbiton	Surrey	73
St. Benedict's Catholic High School	Alcester	Warwickshire	73
Waddesdon Church of England School	Aylesbury	Buckinghamshire	69
Pensby High School for Girls	Wirral	Merseyside	67
Upper Wharfedale School	Skipton	North Yorkshire	67
The Holy Cross School	New Malden	Surrey	65
St Bernard's Catholic School	High Wycombe	Buckinghamshire	65
Bowland High School	Clitheroe	Lancashire	64
Richard Challoner School	New Malden	Surrey	62
The Misbourne School	Great Missenden	Buckinghamshire	62
Ribblesdale High School Technology College	Clitheroe	Lancashire	62
Blackfen School for Girls	Sidcup	Kent	61
Stratford-upon-Avon High School	Stratford- upon Avon	Warwickshire	61
Alcester High School Technology College	Alcester	Warwickshire	60
Coombe Girls' School	New Malden	Surrey	59
The St George's College of Technology, Sleaford	Sleaford	Lincolnshire	59
John Colet School	Aylesbury	Buckinghamshire	58
Holmer Green Upper School	High Wycombe	Buckinghamshire	56
Henley-in-Arden High School	Solihull	West Midlands	56
St. Edmund's Church of England Girls' School and Sports College, Salisbury	Salisbury		55
Caistor Yarborough School	Market Rasen	Lincolnshire	55
Studley High School	Studley	Warwickshire	55
Wellington School	Altrincham	Cheshire	54
Bilton High School	Rugby	Warwickshire	54
The Gartree Community School	Lincoln		53
The Monks' Dyke Technology College	Louth	Lincolnshire	53
The Maplesden Noakes School	Maidstone		52
Ashton-on-Mersey School	Sale	Cheshire	51
The Chalfonts Community College	Gerrards Cross	Buckinghamshire	51
Glenmoor School	Bournemouth		51
Great Marlow School	Marlow	Buckinghamshire	50
The Astor of Hever Community School	Maidstone		50
Avonbourne School	Bournemouth		49
Wrotham School	Sevenoaks	Kent	49
The Bradbourne School	Sevenoaks	Kent	48
The Hayesbrook School	Tonbridge	Kent	48

Press Releases

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many press releases have been issued by his Department in each (a) year and (b) quarter from 1995–96 to 2002–03; and if he will make a statement. [92447]

Mr. Miliband: We are unable to provide the quarterly figures for the number of press releases dating back to 1995 without incurring disproportionate costs.

The total number of press releases issued each year between 1995 and 2002 is set out in the table.

	Total number of press releases
1995	472
1996	443
1997	447
1998	598
1999	605
2000	538
2001(4)	395
2002(4)	210

⁽⁴⁾ Employment issues were transferred to the Department for Work and Pensions in 2001 as part of the machinery of Government changes. This saw a reduction in the number of press releases issued.

Press releases dating from 1998 can be accessed via the Department's website, www.dfes.gov.uk/pns/newsiist. Press releases prior to 998 can be accessed via the Government News Network (GNN) website www.nds.coi.gov.uk.

School Playing Fields

Jane Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what his policy is on the disposal

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of a school playing field site for development, where the school has ceased to exist as a result of merger with an adjoining school. [93947]

Mr. Miliband: A local authority, governing body or foundation body must obtain the Secretary of State's consent before disposing of any playing field that has been used for the purposes of a maintained school within the preceding 10 years. This applies to both continuing and closed schools.

Applications to dispose of school playing fields are assessed against three main criteria. These are:

(i) schools' needs: that playing field provision and curriculum requirements at the school making the disposal, and at other schools in the local area, will be met;

(ii) community needs: that community use of school playing fields is taken into account, with alternative facilities made available if necessary; and

(iii) finance: that any sale proceeds are re-invested to provide new or improved sports facilities at schools, or are used otherwise to help raise standards by providing better educational facilities.

The criteria are set out in the Department's Guidance 0580/2001: The Protection of School Playing Fields and Land for City Academies. The criteria enable the Secretary of State to take into account the team game playing field provision at other local schools. This is to ensure that where there are surplus fields at one school, other local schools are given the opportunity to use those surplus fields. The School Playing Fields Advisory Panel provides advice on the extent to which applications meet the published criteria. The Secretary of State has no influence over what happens to a school playing field once consent has been given to its disposal. Any future development is a matter for the local planning authorities.

Selective Secondary Schools (Torbay)

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many and what percentage of Torbay Unitary Authority primary school pupils have gained selective secondary school places in the last three years for which figures are available; [92932]

(2) how many selective place secondary school pupils from outside the Torbay Unitary Authority attended (a) Churston, (b) Torquay Boys' and (c) Torquay Girls' Grammar Schools in each of the last three years; what percentage of the school roll this represented; and how many pupils and what percentage of the selective stream entry came from outside the Torbay Unitary Authority attending Westlands School in each of the last three years. [92933]

Mr. Miliband: The information requested is not held centrally.

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