Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new (a) primary and (b) secondary school places have been created in (i) Dartford constituency and (ii) Kent in the last 12 months.

The Department for Education collects information from local authorities on the number of school places (school capacity) in state-funded primary and secondary schools (except special schools) as part of the annual School Capacity Collection. The most recent data available relates to the position in May 2013 and can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-capacity-academic-year-2012-to-2013.

In Kent, between May 2012 and May 2013, the number of places in schools deemed as primary schools increased by 960 and the number of places in schools deemed as secondary schools increased by 2,011. Schools that cross phases, for example middle schools, are deemed as either primary or secondary.

Data on the number of school places for the past 12 months is not yet available as this information is currently being collected from local authorities and will be published in due course. Information about the number of school places is not available at constituency level.