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Mr. Radice
asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table showing the number of classes and of pupils in classes of more than 30 pupils for each year since 1979.
Mr. Kenneth Baker
The number of classes with more than 30 pupils and the number of pupils in those classes. in maintained primary and secondary schools in England in each year since 1979 was as follows. The analyses are in respect of classes taught by one teacher on a specified period on the day of the census count in January of each year. The figures should not be taken as representative of the pattern of classes over the academic year as a whole.
| January each year | One teacher classes with more than 30 pupils | Pupils in these classes |
| 1979 | 62,212 | 2,056,126 |
| 1980 | 53,242 | 1,754,062 |
| 1981 | 49,308 | 1,619,635 |
| 1982 | 45,643 | 1,499,397 |
| 1983 | 41,709 | 1,368,532 |
| 1984 | 38,821 | 1,271,277 |
| 1985 | 38,003 | 1,244,942 |
| 1986 | 36,406 | 1,194,116 |