PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Schools: Rural Areas (17 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that there are sufficient school places to meet demand in new housing developments in the countryside; and whether she is taking steps with the Secretary of State for Transport to ensure that there are sufficient buses to enable children in rural areas to travel to school.

Asked by:
Helen Whately (Conservative)

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. The department engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional primary and pre-16 secondary school places, and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, the department offers support and advice.

The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Nearly £1.5 billion of allocations have been confirmed to support local authorities to create school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.

Developer contributions are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are increasing pupil numbers. It is for the Local Planning Authority (LPA) to secure developer contributions through section 106 agreements or through the Community Infrastructure Levy, and to decide on the local infrastructure needs that this contribution should support. The department would encourage LPAs to secure significant contributions for new school places and to work closely with colleagues planning school places in their area, including county councils when the local authority responsible for education is not the LPA.

Good local bus services are an essential part of prosperous and sustainable communities and provide access to schools and other services. This government has set out an action plan to deliver better bus services and drive opportunity across the country-served regions. The government will introduce the Buses Bill to put the power over local bus services in the hands of local leaders to ensure networks can meet the needs of the communities who rely on them.

Answered by:
Catherine McKinnell (Labour)
25 October 2024