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1 Sept 2004 : Column 768W—continued

Child Care

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many child care places were available in each of the last 25 years, broken down by local authority area, and listed in descending order according to the biggest percentage increase in such places over the last seven years. [186106]

Margaret Hodge: I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given on 25 May 2004, Official Report, column 1528W, when I stated that statistics have only been collected by Local Authorities (LAs) since 1999 following the introduction of the National Childcare Strategy for England.

Details of the places created by LA across England since 1999 were provided in the table attached to the previous question. The actual stock number of childcare places available each year was only made available with the first publication of Ofsted statistics in March 2003.

The following table provides details of registered places across England available in March 2003 compared to March 2004, broken down by LA and showing the percentage change in descending order.

LA Name	Ofsted March 2003 Data	Ofsted March 2004 Data	Net Growth 2003–04	Percentage Increase
South Tyneside	1,934	3,746	1,811	94
Halton	1,960	3,164	1,204	61
North Tyneside	2,776	4,067	1,291	46
Torbay	1,691	2,385	695	41
City of London	308	430	122	40
NE Lincolnshire	1,578	2,199	621	39
Luton	2,286	3,184	899	39
Southampton	3,755	5,220	1,466	39
Cumbria	6,121	8,456	2,334	38
Thurrock	1861	2,565	704	38
Hartlepool	1,474	2,007	533	36
Blackburn with Darwen	2,714	3,693	979	36
Oldham	4,542	6,148	1,606	35
Southend-On-Sea	2,342	3,166	824	35
Redcar and Cleveland	1,903	2,560	657	35
Suffolk	8,504	1,1430	2,926	34
Haringey	2,493	3,330	838	34
Bournemouth	2,514	3,311	797	32
Newham	3,886	5,078	1,191	31
Stockton on Tees	2,810	3,607	797	28
Barnsley	2,367	3,038	671	28
Doncaster	3,478	4,423	945	27
Reading	3,656	4,614	958	26
Norfolk	10,674	13,435	2,761	26
Sefton	3,573	4,472	899	25
Tower Hamlets	2,688	3,343	655	24
Lambeth	4,551	5,641	1,091	24
Wakefield	3,466	4,260	794	23
East Sussex	8,190	10,040	1,850	23
Walsall	3,885	4,757	872	22
Peterborough	4,554	5,569	1,015	22
North Somerset	3,084	3,766	682	22
Cornwall	6,984	8,520	1,536	22
Lewisham	4,683	5,712	1,029	22
Liverpool	7,396	9,006	1,611	22
Wigan	5,528	6,681	1,153	21
Rutland	787	951	164	21
St Helens	2,534	3,045	511	20
Plymouth	4,656	5,567	911	20
North Lincolnshire	2,028	2,420	391	19
Merton	3,821	4,554	733	19
Hackney	2,908	3,455	547	19
Havering	2,445	2,904	459	19
Bradford	7,837	9,251	1,414	18
Bolton	5,856	6,901	1,045	18
Sheffield	9,732	11,460	1,729	18
Rotherham	3,297	3,875	578	18
Salford	4,589	5,392	803	17
Knowsley	2,763	3,239	476	17
Lancashire	2,2538	2,6391	3854	17
Harrow	2,905	3,397	492	17
Kingston Upon Thames	2,932	3,428	496	17
Redbridge	3,538	4,129	591	17
Swindon	4,406	5,133	727	16
Hampshire	2,7288	3,1769	4481	16
Southwark	6,156	7,162	1,005	16
Hertfordshire	2,3256	26,983	3727	16
Brent	4,281	4,955	674	16
Northamptonshire	12,813	14,827	2015	16
Sunderland	3,155	3,645	490	16
Bexley	2,981	3,440	458	15
Staffordshire	18,482	21,321	2,839	15
North Yorkshire	11,793	13,593	1,800	15
Warrington	6,233	7,176	942	15
Tameside	4,564	5 252	688	15
Nottinghamshire	15,819	18,180	2,362	15
Kingston Upon Hull	3,515	4,035	520	15
Sutton	3,108	3,568	460	15
Sandwell	4,276	4,907	630	15
Bromley	5,008	5,737	729	15
Windsor and Maidenhead	3,817	4,370	553	14
Medway Towns	5,122	5,856	733	14
Leicestershire	12,125	13,857	1,732	14
Rochdale	4,957	5,662	705	14
Manchester	9,723	11,101	1,378	14
Lincolnshire	12,129	13,828	1,699	14
Gateshead	3,343	3,806	464	14
Greenwich	4,485	5,097	612	14
Kent	24,589	27,943	3,354	14
Worcestershire	12,739	14,451	1,712	13
Ealing	5,795	6,574	778	13
Northumberland	5,636	6,391	755	13
Stoke-on-Trent	4,544	5,150	607	13
Newcastle Upon Tyne	4,710	5,338	629	13
Calderdale	4,862	5,493	632	13
Durham	7,078	7,998	920	13
Barking and Dagenham	1,987	2,244	257	13
Portsmouth	4,432	5,002	570	13
Poole	2,216	2,501	285	13
Oxfordshire	16,221	18,276	2055	13
Shropshire	6,118	6,893	775	13
Bristol	8,024	9,026	1002	12
Darlington	2,371	2,666	295	12
Coventry	6,437	7,203	766	12
East Riding of Yorkshire	5,818	6,510	691	12
Wandsworth	7,338	8,209	871	12
Cambridgeshire	13,509	15,106	1597	12
Bedfordshire	7,840	8,766	926	12
West Sussex	13,865	15,491	1626	12
Kirklees	7,585	8,466	881	12
Derby	5,510	6,149	639	12
Trafford	6,693	7,459	766	11
Hammersmith and Fulham	2,835	3,158	323	11
Birmingham	2,2378	24,927	2,549	11
Milton Keynes	5,874	6,536	662	11
Blackpool	3,091	3,435	344	11
Buckinghamshire	11,043	12,254	1,211	11
Croydon	7,299	8,046	747	10
Hounslow	3,311	3,637	326	10
Richmond-Upon-Thames	4,354	4,777	423	10
Warwickshire	11,931	13,086	1,155	10
Bury	5,797	6,348	551	10
Stockport	6,322	6,915	592	9
Cheshire	17,026	18,605	1,579	9
South Gloucester	5,070	5,540	470	9
Enfield	4,275	4,670	395	9
Brighton and Hove	5,276	5,758	482	9
Herefordshire	4,126	4,498	371	9
Kensington and Chelsea	3,023	3,289	266	9
Bracknell Forest	3,312	3592	280	8
Dorset	5,894	6,372	478	8
Somerset	9,846	10,635	789	8
Derbyshire	11,828	12,773	945	8
Nottingham	6,234	6,725	491	8
Dudley	4,528	4,880	351	8
Wirral	6,403	6,888	485	8
Isle of Wight	3,159	3,385	226	7
Waltham Forest	5,189	5,555	366	7
Surrey	26,021	27,856	1,835	7
Westminster	3,093	3,00	208	7
Wiltshire	10,871	11,500	629	6
Islington	4,325	4,567	241	6
Essex	21,064	22,213	1,150	5
Devon	13,694	14,425	730	5
Camden	4,486	4,719	234	5
Hillingdon	4,971	5,226	255	5
Wolverhampton	4,317	4,522	205	5
Barnet	6,371	6,666	296	5
Telford and Wrekin	4,540	4,733	193	4
Bath and North East Somerset	3,223	3,346	123	4
Leeds	15,776	16,178	402	3
Leicester City	5,886	6028	142	2
Gloucestershire	14,174	14,358	184	1
York	4,149	4186	37	1
Solihull	5,644	5,672	28	0
Wokingham	5,112	5,100	13	0
Middlesbrough	3,129	2,983	146	5
Slough	2,187	2,080	108	5
West Berkshire	5,055	4,687	368	7
Isles Of Scilly	187	111	76	41
Totals:	96,7821	1,102,686	1,348,64

 
1 Sept 2004 : Column 773W
 

Children's Homes

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) announced and (b) unannounced inspections of children's homes have taken place in the past year; how many homes have been inspected; and what percentage of the total this represents. [185523]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 20 July 2004]: A total of 3,663 inspections of registered children's homes were carried out by the Commission for Social Care Inspection during the year ending 31 March 2004, of
 
1 Sept 2004 : Column 774W
 
which 1,862 were announced and 1,801 were unannounced. Information on the number of registered children's homes inspected is available only at disproportionate cost.

Class Sizes

Mr. Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average class size in Leicester, South for (a) primary and (b) secondary schools was in each year since 1997. [186260]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: The requested information is given in the table.
Maintained primary and secondary schools⁽³²⁾: Average size of classes taught by one teacher⁽³³⁾—Position in January each year 1997 to 2004 (Provisional v2)

	Leicester South Parliamentary Constituency(34)
	Primary			Secondary
	Number of pupils	Number of classes	Average class size	Number of pupils	Number of classes	Average class size
1997	8,760	320	27.0	3,680	150	24.2
1998	8,750	310	28.0	3,880	160	24.3
1999	8,410	310	27.1	3,910	160	24.0
2000	8,190	310	26.9	3,960	160	24.6
2001	8,490	320	26.3	3,920	160	24.7
2002	8,890	340	26.4	4,070	160	25.3
2003	8,720	330	26.3	4,050	160	24.8
2004(35)	8,560	320	26.4	4,060	160	25.4

⁽³²⁾ Includes middle schools as deemed.
⁽³³⁾ Classes as taught during the one selected period in each school on the day of the census in January.
⁽³⁴⁾ Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.
⁽³⁵⁾ Provisional.
Source:
Annual Schools Census

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