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European Parliamentary Elections:Ballot Papers

Lord Stoddart of Swindon asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why ballot papers for the South East constituency in the 1999 European parliamentary elections are to measure 30.5 inches by 8 inches (80 centimetres by 20 centimetres); whether they can be accommodated in existing ballot boxes; whether this size will be standard throughout the United Kingdom; and, if not, whether they will list the size for each region.[HL2470]

Lord Williams of Mostyn: The form of the ballot paper is, subject to the regulations, a matter for the regional returning officer. Its size will depend on the number of parties and individual candidates who stand validly nominated and the number of seats to be filled in the region concerned.

I understand that the approximate sizes of the ballot papers in the British electoral regions for the forthcoming European parliamentary elections will be as follows:

Eastern 38.5cm x 14.5cm

East Midlands 42cm x 14.5cm

London 77.5cm x 17.5cm

North East 36.5cm x 15cm

North West 47.5cm x 19.5cm

South East 48.5cm x 21.5cm

South West 40.5cm x 17cm

West Midlands 46.5cm x 18cm

Yorkshire & Humberside 37cm x 15.2cm

Scotland 52cm x 16cm

Wales 42.5cm x 18cm

It is for returning officers to ensure that they have sufficient ballot boxes to accommodate all the votes cast.

Secondary Education: Percentage of Children in Private Schools

Lord Peston asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the percentage of children in secondary education in private schools per English local education authority and in England as a whole for the latest available year and the two preceding years.[HL2500]

The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone): The information currently available is shown in the table.

Percentage of secondary age pupils being taught in independent schools in England--January of each year.

	1996	1997	1998
Hartlepool	0.1	0.1	0.0
Middlesbrough	0.2	0.3	0.3
Redcar and Cleveland	0.0	0.0	0.0
Stockton-on-Tees	7.9	8.0	8.3
Darlington	5.6	5.8	5.7
Durham	3.8	3.8	3.8
Northumberland	1.4	1.6	1.6
Gateshead	1.6	1.7	1.7
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	18.4	18.2	18.1
North Tyneside	5.2	5.0	5.0
South Tyneside	0.2	0.2	0.1
Sunderland	2.2	2.3	2.4
NORTH EAST	4.5	4.5	4.5
Cheshire	6.9	6.8	6.9
Cumbria	6.8	6.5	6.6
Bolton	10.8	10.7	10.8
Bury	15.5	14.9	15.1
Manchester	18.5	18.4	18.2
Oldham	6.8	6.7	6.7
Rochdale	0.6	0.7	0.8
Salford	5.5	5.9	6.2
Stockport	13.7	13.7	13.5
Tameside	0.3	0.4	0.5
Trafford	13.1	12.8	2.8
Wigan	0.0	0.0	0.0
Lancashire	6.3	6.2	6.5
NORTH WEST	7.8	7.7	7.4
Knowsley	0.0	0.0	0.0
Liverpool	6.0	6.1	3.7
St. Helens	2.1	2.2	2.3
Sefton	10.9	10.8	10.5
Wirral	5.9	5.9	5.8
MERSEYSIDE	6.0	6.0	5.1
NORTH WEST AND MERSEYSIDE	7.4	7.3	6.9
East Riding of Yorkshire	3.8	3.8	3.5
City of Kingston-Upon-Hull	6.3	6.3	6.2
North East Lincolnshire	1.3	1.3	1.4
North Lincolnshire	0.0	0.0	0.0
York	15.5	15.5	15.7
North Yorkshire	9.1	9.1	8.5
Barnsley	0.2	0.2	0.2
Doncaster	1.1	1.0	0.9
Rotherham	0.2	0.2	0.2
Sheffield	4.2	4.4	4.5
Bradford	6.3	6.2	6.2
Calderdale	4.8	4.7	4.9
Kirklees	5.2	5.4	5.6
Leeds	5.7	5.6	5.6
Wakefield	11.0	10.6	10.3
YORKSHIRE AND HUMBER	5.4	5.4	5.3
Derby	2.7	2.9	2.9
Derbyshire	5.6	5.6	5.5
Leicester City	5.8	6.2	6.3
Rutland	42.1	42.9	43.1
Leicestershire	6.9	7.1	7.2
Lincolnshire	4.7	4.5	4.4
Northamptonshire	7.2	7.1	7.1
Nottinghamshire	4.7	4.6	4.7
EAST MIDLANDS	6.1	6.1	6.1
Hereford and Worcester	13.9	13.8	13.5
Shropshire	11.4	11.2	11.1
Stoke	2.0	2.4	0.0
Staffordshire	4.9	4.7	4.6
Warwickshire	11.6	10.3	10.1
Birmingham	4.8	4.9	4.9
Coventry	8.4	8.2	8.1
Dudley	0.7	0.7	0.7
Sandwell	0.0	0.0	0.0
Solihull	7.0	6.8	6.8
Walsall	0.8	0.8	0.9
Wolverhampton	7.6	7.7	8.0
WEST MIDLANDS	6.8	6.7	6.5
Luton	0.0	0.1	0.2
Bedfordshire	12.5	12.3	11.9
Cambridgeshire	10.6	10.6	11.0
Essex	3.9	3.9	3.8
Hertfordshire	13.8	13.9	13.9
Norfolk	7.7	7.6	7.5
Suffolk	11.1	10.8	10.6
EASTERN	9.0	8.9	8.9
City of London	100.0	100.0	100.0
Camden	17.3	17.3	17.4
Hackney	11.9	12.4	13.7
Hammersmith and Fulham	28.0	28.0	28.0
Haringey	11.0	10.5	10.7
Islington	2.6	1.9	1.9
Kensington and Chelsea	57.8	57.8	57.3
Lambeth	6.4	6.4	6.4
Lewisham	9.2	9.3	8.4
Newham	0.0	0.0	0.0
Southwark	24.7	24.7	24.3
Tower Hamlets	0.8	1.0	1.0
Wandsworth	15.6	15.9	16.0
Westminster	27.3	28.0	28.1
INNER LONDON	15.9	16.0	15.9
Barking and Dagenham	0.0	0.0	0.0
Barnet	12.0	12.0	12.6
Bexley	0.0	0.0	0.0
Brent	2.3	2.8	3.1
Bromley	10.7	10.2	10.0
Croydon	21.9	22.2	20.5
Ealing	16.0	16.2	16.1
Enfield	1.3	1.2	1.3
Greenwich	8.6	8.7	8.5
Harrow	26.0	26.0	25.2
Havering	0.8	0.7	0.6
Hillingdon	9.7	10.0	10.1
Hounslow	1.7	1.6	1.6
Kingston-upon-Thames	15.9	16.3	16.4
Merton	19.5	19.6	19.3
Redbridge	8.0	7.6	7.6
Richmond-upon-Thames	31.9	33.0	33.7
Sutton	5.1	5.0	4.7
Waltham Forest	9.5	8.3	8.0
OUTER LONDON	10.2	10.2	10.0
LONDON	12.1	12.1	12.0
Berkshire	18.2	17.6	17.3
Milton Keynes	4.0	3.3	3.2
Buckinghamshire	8.2	7.8	9.2
Brighton & Hove	18.8	18.9	18.0
East Sussex	15.9	15.5	13.8
Portsmouth	18.7	17.2	16.8
Southampton	13.3	12.5	12.4
Hampshire	9.3	9.2	9.3
Isle of Wight	7.2	6.4	5.7
Kent	8.2	8.1	8.2
Oxfordshire	20.3	20.5	20.0
Surrey	25.3	25.1	24.9
West Sussex	12.6	12.5	12.5
SOUTH EAST	14.0	13.9	13.7
Bath and NE Somerset	19.5	19.4	18.9
City of Bristol	25.6	25.6	25.6
North Somerset	3.7	3.5	3.4
South Gloucestershire	1.9	1.6	1.4
Cornwall	4.9	4.9	4.7
Isles of Scilly	0.0	0.0	4.2
Devon	9.3	9.0	8.7
Bournemouth	6.6	6.4	6.3
Poole	8.1	8.1	8.6
Dorset	11.3	13.6	13.1
Gloucestershire	11.2	11.0	10.7
Somerset	19.6	19.7	19.3
Swindon	0.3	0.3	0.3
Wiltshire	12.7	12.6	12.5
SOUTH WEST	11.3	11.3	11.1
ENGLAND	9.1	9.0	8.9

20 May 1999 : Column WA52

Secondary Education: Percentage of Children in Comprehensive Schools

Lord Peston asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list for 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1990 and 1995 and the latest year available the number of pupils in comprehensive secondary schools in England as a percentage of all pupils in maintained secondary education.[HL2501]

Baroness Blackstone: The information requested is shown in the attached table.

Percentage of Pupils(1) in Maintained Comprehensive Schools in England--January each year

Year	Percentage of pupils in Maintained Comprehensive Schools
1965	8.0
1970	29.3
1975	62.9
1980	81.4
1990	88.2
1995	86.2
1998	86.7

(1) Number of pupils in maintained comprehensive schools calculated as a percentage of pupils in all maintained secondary schools.

Free School Meals

Baroness David asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will list the number of children eligible for free school meals as a percentage of the pupils in each of the 166 grammar schools, compared to the percentage of all schoolchildren eligible for free school meals in the relevant local education authorities.[HL2503]

Baroness Blackstone: Information on school meals for individual schools is not published centrally. The available information is shown in the attached table.

LEA	Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for a free meal in maintained grammar schools	Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for a free school meal in maintained secondary schools
Barnet	1.4	16.2
Bexley	5.0	13.5
Bromley	1.2	14.3
Enfield	2.2	21.0
Kingston upon Thames	2.4	9.4
Redbridge	3.7	17.5
Sutton	1.9	8.7
Birmingham	5.1	34.3
Walsall	2.5	19.8
Wolverhampton	2.8	22.0
Liverpool	6.0	39.5
Wirral	5.5	24.6
Trafford	4.9	18.9
Calderdale	3.2	17.7
Kirklees	3.1	18.6
City of Bristol	18.8	24.4
North Yorkshire	1.3	7.2
Buckinghamshire	1.6	7.0
Poole	3.5	9.6
Bournemouth	3.3	12.7
Stoke	0.5	23.7
Wiltshire	0.9	7.3
Berkshire	4.9	8.5
Cumbria	2.2	14.0
Devon	4.4	12.7
Essex	2.3	12.5
Gloucestershire	3.0	8.9
Kent	3.4	12.9
Lancashire	3.5	19.5
Lincolnshire	2.6	10.2
Shropshire	0.7	12.6
Warwickshire	1.7	8.9

20 May 1999 : Column WA54

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