Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children of secondary school age are (a) resident and (b) on the roll in (i) the North West, (ii) Salford Local Authority, (iii) secondary planning area 3550101, (iv) secondary planning area 3550102 and (v) secondary planning area 3550103; and how many school places are unfilled in state secondary schools in those areas.

The department does not hold information on all children and young people by residence.

Information on unfilled state secondary school places, as at May 2023, is published in the School Capacity statistics publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-capacity. This is available at region and local authority level here for the North West and Salford: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/fb3975cc-0ccd-4aee-b241-08dccd7b0275. School level information is also available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-catalogue/data-set/5f26c269-bf72-41ab-8292-e17b58ed7c98 and can be aggregated to planning area level.

This publication also contains information on the number of pupils on roll as at May 2023, to allow comparisons with data on unfilled places. However, this is not the latest data for numbers on roll. The latest published data on secondary age pupils on roll in state funded secondary schools is for January 2024 and is published in the ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ publication, which can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics. This is available at a region and local authority level here for the North West and Salford: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/11b17d43-58a5-4ff9-e0d5-08dccd7b577b. School level information is also available here: https://content.explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/api/releases/6a45c262-aaca-4bda-a548-cc9d1dc63137/files/6a137329-83ce-4e2e-8043-1f15ab5c7101 and can be aggregated to planning area level.

For secondary planning area 3550101, there were 5,647 secondary pupils on roll in May 2023, with 343 secondary school places unfilled (5.8%). In January 2024, there were 5,609 pupils on roll.

For secondary planning area 3550102, there were 3,316 secondary pupils on roll in May 2023, with 212 secondary school places unfilled (6.2%). In January 2024, there were 3,364 pupils on roll.

For secondary planning area 3550103, there were 4,162 secondary pupils on roll in May 2023, with 189 secondary school places unfilled (4.4%). In January 2024, there were 4,235 pupils on roll.