Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her most recent estimate is of the number of primary school places required in Wolverhampton.

Local authorities are responsible for ensuring there are sufficient school places for pupils. The Department collects pupil forecasts and school capacities from each local authority through the annual school capacity survey (SCAP). This data is used to allocate capital funding to local authorities to help them provide sufficient school places where they are needed. The Department’s Pupil Place Planning team then work with local authorities to determine that those places are in fact being created.

The capacity and forecast data are published on an annual basis, giving local authority and regional totals, through the SCAP tables. From the latest published data giving the position at May 2016, Wolverhampton Local Authority had 24,296 places at primary schools and 22,172 pupils on roll at primary schools. Further information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2015-to-2016.

The Department also publishes school place scorecards to show the challenges that local authorities are facing, together with the progress that they are making in providing sufficient good quality school places. The latest published scorecards show that an estimated 200 primary places are needed in Wolverhampton Local Authority to meet demand in 2018/19. This figure is based on demand in separate planning areas within the local authority. The scorecards, including full details of the calculation, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-authority-school-places-scorecards-2016.