Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which 10 local authority areas had the largest decline in GCSE take-up for (a) art and design, (b) design and technology, (c) drama and (d) music in the last five years; and what proportion of students qualified for free school meals in each of those areas.
The ten local authorities with the largest percentage point decline in entries for selected GCSE subjects between 2010 and 2016, and the proportion of students eligible for and claiming free school meals in state funded secondary schools in these areas is listed in the following table:
Local authorities with the largest proportionate decline in entries for selected GCSE subjects1,2 between 2010 and 2016 and proportion of students eligible for and claiming free school meals in state funded secondary schools in these areas
Year: From 2010 to 2016 (provisional)2
| Number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 | Percentage of pupils entered for selected subjects in 2016 | Percentage of pupils entered for selected subjects in 2010 | Percentage known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in secondary schools |
England | 541,080 | 59.5 | 65.2 | 13.2 |
Blackburn with Darwen | 1,755 | 43.9 | 64.6 | 14.9 |
Isles of Scilly | 23 | 56.5 | 77.3 | 2.2 |
South Tyneside | 1,535 | 48.4 | 65.8 | 18.6 |
Wirral | 3,405 | 55.2 | 71.3 | 14.4 |
Brighton and Hove | 2,144 | 54.8 | 70.3 | 12.6 |
Poole | 1,441 | 63.2 | 78.2 | 7.0 |
East Riding of Yorkshire | 3,345 | 58.1 | 72.4 | 10.0 |
Telford and Wrekin | 2,017 | 56.3 | 70.7 | 13.7 |
Wakefield | 3,647 | 53.5 | 66.9 | 12.6 |
Redcar and Cleveland | 1,619 | 54.2 | 68.4 | 17.4 |
Source: Secondary school performance tables and School Census
Notes: