General Certificate of Secondary Education

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students in (a) independent and (b) maintained schools took English literature GCSE in (a) 1997, (b) 2003 and (c) the latest year for which figures are available. (252601)

The numbers of pupils attempting English literature GCSE in maintained and independent schools in 1997, 2003 and 2008 are given as follows:

	Maintained schools	Independent schools
2007/08	472,575	38,933
2002/03	481,440	35,458
1996/97	422,619	35,985
Notes: 1. Figures for 2007/08 relate to pupils at the end of Key Stage 4, for 1996/97 and 2002/03 the figures relate to 15-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August). 2. Figures include attempts by these pupils in previous academic years. Only one attempt is counted per pupil. 3. The figures are derived from the Achievement and Attainment Tables data.

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many students took both mathematics and physics GCSE in (a) independent and (b) maintained schools in the last five years for which figures are available. (252604)

[holding answer 29 January 2009]: The numbers of pupils attempting both mathematics and physics GCSE in maintained and independent schools for the last five years are given as follows:

	Maintained schools	Independent schools
2007/08	52,830	8,689
2006/07	36,533	9,607
2005/06	34,267	12,426
2004/05	30,942	13,698
2003/04	28,293	13,938
Notes: 1. Figures relate to pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 except in 2003/04 for which the figures relate to 15-year-olds (age at start of academic year, i.e. 31 August). 2. Figures include attempts by these pupils in previous academic years. Only one attempt is counted per pupil. 3. The figures are derived from the Achievement and Attainment Tables data.

Volume 487: debated on Monday 9 February 2009