Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her Department’s policies of rural education challenges in West Dorset.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure there are enough school places available in their area for every child of compulsory school age. The department expects local authorities, academy trusts and local partners to engage collaboratively and constructively to balance the supply and demand of school places, in line with changing demographics locally.

The government also recognises the essential role that small schools play in their communities, many of which are in rural areas.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act has introduced new measures that enable greater local collaboration on pupil admissions and place planning between local authorities and schools.

To support strategic planning at a local level, the department will work with the sector to develop a decision-making framework for the use of mainstream school space through demographic change. We aim to publish this in autumn 2026.

Area planning will help us to ensure that smaller and more vulnerable schools, including those in rural areas, can become part of a strong and supportive school trust. The department will work with local partners to develop the school trust landscape that reflects the needs of each area, with geographically coherent trusts that enable effective collaboration and reduce isolation, alongside wider support for rural provision including recognition within the funding system. The schools national funding formula accounts for the challenges faced by small schools in rural areas by providing additional funding through the lump sum and sparsity factor.

Our wider reforms will also strengthen the role of trusts working with local authorities and other services to support all children, particularly the most disadvantaged, in aiming to improve outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, including early, fair support, with shared accountabilities across local partners.