Education written question – answered at on 22 June 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the number of schools required to be built to meet population growth in each of the next five years.
holding answer
It is the responsibility of each local authority to manage the supply and demand for primary and secondary school places in their area and secure a place for every child of statutory school age who wants one. The Department will continue to provide capital funding and monitor the situation with local authorities to ensure there are sufficient school places.
The Department does collect information from each local authority on school capacity in maintained schools through an annual survey, which includes local authorities' own pupil forecasts. The most recent survey data relates to the position at May 2010 and is available on the Department's website:
http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000982/index.shtml
We can only estimate the level of demand for school places. It cannot be determined by pupil forecasts alone as other local factors have an influence; for example, changes to school capacity and spare school places. The survey data indicate that there will be a need for an additional 260,000 primary places and 60,000 secondary places nationally over the next five years. We are unable to determine how many schools will actually need to be built to meet the population growth over the next five years. This is a local matter and will be dependent on the needs of the local community.
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