Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answers of 2 August 2024 to Question 1652 on Pupil Numbers and Question 1653 on Further Education: Students, if she will bring forward publication of data on the (a) available capacity in (i) state secondary schools and (ii) school sixth forms and (b) numbers of pupils in independent-sector schools at equivalent ages by parliamentary constituency using current boundaries.

The department publishes annual statistics on the capacity and pupils on roll in schools each spring at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity and on the number of students enrolled in independent schools each summer, at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. In accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics, statistics publications are pre-announced on the GOV.UK website and can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-education&order=updated-newest. Currently, the department has no plans to change this publication schedule. The scheduling ensures that statistics are released as soon as they are ready, while abiding by standards set by the Code of Practice for Statistics, in terms of trustworthiness, quality and value. The Code can be found at the following link: https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/.

Where statistics were published prior to the changes in parliamentary constituency boundaries, they will be updated to reflect the new boundaries in the next publication of statistics. This is expected to be in March 2025 for school capacity statistics and in June 2025 for statistics on schools and pupils, including independent schools.

It may be useful to note that the data requested is published at school level. This can be combined with information from ‘Get Information About Schools’ (GIAS) to identify parliamentary constituency. GIAS currently reflects the changes made following the general election parliamentary constituency changes and is accessible here: https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/. Updates to geographical data are made on a quarterly basis using data published by the Office for National Statistics.