Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

The Minister is talking of reducing the average class size from 29 to 28 this year, and to 27 the following year. Will a class of 34 drop down to 33 or 32? Class sizes will remain too big for the next couple of years. Despite the Minister's announcement, progress will be slow.

The issue of disadvantaged schools was raised by many Members. A recent report has confirmed that in poor areas there are 30% levels of poor literacy. That is not much of an improvement on the figures in 1999 when a similar report was published. We know one of the keys to dealing with poor literacy levels is a reduction in class size. Research has consistently shown that the outcome for pupils in smaller classes is better.

We all know that education is the key to dealing with life chances. We are one of the richest economies in the world, definitely at the top of the scale in Europe, yet we are at the bottom of the league in terms of expenditure on education as a percentage of GNP. We must do more. The Minister is doing something but must do a lot more if she wants to change in terms of class sizes and disadvantaged pupils. The Minister is nowhere near delivering the Government commitment to class sizes of 20 or less.