Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the comparative demand between regions from parents for places in Catholic schools.

The department makes no assessment of the comparative demand for specific types of school places. Local authorities (LAs) have a statutory responsibility to ensure there are sufficient school places for their areas and they will take parental demand into account when deciding where additional places are needed. Where there is specific demand for additional Catholic school places, it is for the LA to decide how best to meet that demand. This could be through establishing a new school or expanding an existing school.