Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of provision of secondary school places in areas of high population density in Shrewsbury constituency.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. 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. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools or through expansions of existing schools, and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools. The funding is not ring-fenced, subject to the conditions set out in the published grant determination letter, nor is it time bound, meaning local authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities.

Shropshire Council has been allocated just over £4.4 million to support the provision of new school places needed over the current and next two academic years, up to and including the academic year starting in September 2026.

The department engages with councils 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 support them to find solutions as quickly as possible.

The department is aware that Shropshire Council are exploring local solutions to address localised secondary sufficiency challenges in Shrewsbury, including the potential for a new setting in the medium term.