To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many (a) children and (b) teachers are now in maintained schools in Scotland; what was the comparable figure in 1986 and 1976; and if he will make a statement.

The information requested, for education authority primary and secondary schools, is as follows:

	Number of pupils
	1976	11986	1989
Primary schools	611,788	433,459	437,072
Secondary schools	402,704	344,369	298,603
1 Estimate.

	Number of Teachers1
	1976	1986	1989
Primary schools	27,324·3	21,218·1	22,186·1
Secondary schools	27,432·2	25,992·7	24,143·3
1 Full-time equivalent.

In the period since 1976 pupil:teacher ratios have improved from 22·4 to 19·7 in primary schools, and from 14·7 to 12·4 in secondary schools.