Oral Answers to Questions

Philip Hollobone Excerpts

Monday 26th October 2015 Commons Chamber

[Nick Boles]

I certainly agree with the hon. Gentleman that there are remarkable sixth-form colleges achieving extraordinary things, and I want to support them as best we can. As he knows, one option we are keen to explore is whether some sixth-form colleges might want to link up with groups of schools and multi-academy trusts in order to be stronger themselves and to provide more of their great education to more people.

[Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)]

10. How many pupils of secondary school age there are in Kettering constituency; and how many such pupils there were in 2010.

[The Minister for Schools (Mr Nick Gibb)]

The January 2015 school census shows 5,757 secondary school-age pupils attending schools in Kettering. In January 2010, there were 5,732 such pupils.

[Mr Hollobone]

Per pupil funding in Northamptonshire is £317 less than the English average, yet the rate of house building in Kettering and Northamptonshire over the next 10 or 15 years is among the highest in the country. When the Minister gets around to introducing a fairer funding formula for schools, will he ensure an extra boost for areas that are growing quicker than everywhere else?

[Mr Gibb]

We are committed to ensuring fairer funding across the board, and we took a step towards that for 2015-16 when we allocated £390 million to the 69 worst funded local authorities, including my hon. Friend’s local education authority.