asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many independent schools there are in Wales; and what information he has as to how many children attend them, as to the proportion of the total school population this represents, and as to the comparable figures for each of the last five years.
The information is as follows and refers to 1 January for each year:
| *1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | |
| Number of independent schools | 71 | 72 | 71 | 73 | 70 |
| Number of full-time and part-time pupils | 12,703 | 12,795 | 12,348 | 11,247 | 11,427 |
| Pupils as a proportion of total school population (%) | 2·3 | 2·3 | 2·3 | 2·3 | 2·2 |
| * Figures include information on 3 direct grant schools, which, from 1980–81 became independent. | |||||
asked the Secretary of State for Wales how many pupils attend independent school sixth forms in Wales; and what proportion of the total number of sixth form pupils in Wales this represents.
Information on the number of pupils in the sixth forms of independent schools is not collected centrally. The number of pupils at independent schools in January 1984, who were aged 16 and over at the beginning of the school year, total 1,576. This number represented 6·6 per cent. of pupils aged 16 and over at all maintained secondary and independent schools.