Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure there are sufficient school places to match trends in the level of housing growth.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. We provide capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support local authorities to provide mainstream 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 2026/27 academic year. Local authorities can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools.

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

The department engages with local authorities on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we offer support and advice.