Data has indicated a reduction in the number of children registered to sit the 11-plus entrance tests for grammar schools next September, suggesting that a predicted surge in applications due to Labour’s VAT plans for school fees isn’t taking place, The Guardian has reported.

Figures from 91 of England’s 163 grammars reveal the total number of pupils registered to sit the tests has dropped from 80,317 last year to 80,091 this year.

Michael Pyke, a spokesperson for the Campaign for State Education, said: “It’s not in the least surprising that there are few indications of the influx into the state system that has been predicted. For many years private school fees have regularly risen above the rate of inflation without there being any decline in pupil numbers.

“What really is surprising is the amount of time and energy that has been devoted to an issue that affects very few children, while the appalling problems faced by the schools which educate 93% of our children have been almost completely ignored.

“Why are the problems of a very small minority, most of whom are pretty well off, deemed more important than those of the great majority of families?”