HC Deb 22 April 1994 vol 241 cc676-8W
Mr. Byers

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list for each local education authority the pupil capacity of those schools which have been approved for grant-maintained status and the number of pupils attending grant-maintained schools.

Mr. Robin Squire

The table below shows full-time pupil numbers in January 1993 at schools which are currently grant-maintained in each local education authority area.

Up-to-date figures on the capacity of grant-maintained schools are not available. However, my right hon. Friend intends to make regulations shortly under section 21 of the Education Act 1993 requiring LEAs and the Funding Agency for Schools, where it has relevant planning responsibilities, to submit annual information on the numbers of surplus places in LEA-maintained and grant-maintained schools respectively, beginning this year.

LEA Pupils
Avon 1,569
Barking and Dagenham 0
Barnet 10,612
Barnsley 0
Bedfordshire 9,197
Berkshire 9,631
Bexley 4,224
Birmingham 16,338
Bolton 3,119
Bradford 5,619
Brent 10,379
Bromley 12,493
Buckinghamshire 11,970
Bury 223
Calderdale 6,997
Cambridgeshire 17,020
Camden 2,340
Cheshire 2,813
LEA Pupils
Cleveland 0
Cornwall 0
Corporation of London 0
Coventry 0
Croydon 6,733
Cumbria 12,977
Derbyshire 16,946
Devon 4,856
Doncaster 0
Dorset 9,952
Dudley 4,839
Durham 0
Ealing 6,122
East Sussex 0
Enfield 5,725
Essex 84,712
Gateshead 0
Gloucestershire 24,404
Greenwich 239
Hackney 87
Hammersmith and Fulham 1,229
Hampshire 19,691
Haringey 0
Harrow 483
Havering 3,813
Hereford and Worcester 3,558
Hertfordshire 22,129
Hillingdon 14,069
Hounslow 2,108
Humberside 257
Isle of Wight 0
Isles of Scilly 0
Islington 0
Kensington and Chelsea 1,159
Kent 56,064
Kingston-upon-Thames 3,050
Kirklees 1,266
Knowsley 719
Lambeth 4,613
Lancashire 7,171
Leeds 1,189
Leicestershire 3,222
Lewisham 361
Lincolnshire 22,542
Liverpool 2,260
Manchester 0
Merton 0
Newcastle-upon-Tyne 0
Newham 556
Norfolk 11,231
North Tyneside 212
North Yorkshire 0
Northamptonshire 12,269
Northumberland 632
Nottinghamshire 1,831
Oldham 0
Oxfordshire 81
Redbridge 1,113
Richmond-upon-Thames 0
Rochdale 2,168
Rotherham 0
Salford 413
Sandwell 658
Sefton 0
Sheffield 2,836
Shropshire 3,847
Solihull 454
Somerset 772
South Tyneside 0
Southwark 4,030
St. Helens 0
Staffordshire 4,347
Stockport 0
Sunderland 0
Suffolk 0
Surrey 13,135
Sutton 7,390
Tameside 2,332
LEA Pupils
Tower Hamlets 907
Trafford 2,892
Wakefield 0
Walsall 6,118
Waltham Forest 1,915
Wandsworth 7,002
Warwickshire 4,669
West Sussex 0
Westminster 0
Wigan 0
Wiltshire 16,131
Wirral 2,031
Wolverhampton 2,348

Note: Figures for numbers of pupils are derived from the Department's January 1993 Schools Census.

Mr. Byers

To ask the Secretary of State for Education when he plans to issue circulars arising from the Education Act 1993 concerning(a) the supply of school places and (b) the promotion of new grant-maintained schools.

Mr. Forth

A draft circular on the supply of school places and guidance for promoters of new grant-maintained schools will be issued by the Department later in the summer.

Dr. Wright

To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many surplus places there are in grant-maintained schools; and what is the figure as a percentage of the admission limit for such schools.

Mr. Robin Squire

This information is not currently available. However, my right hon. Friend intends to make regulations shortly under section 21 of the Education Act 1993 requiring LEAs and the Funding Agency for Schools, where it has relevant planning responsibilities, to submit annual information on the numbers of surplus places in LEA maintained and grant-maintained schools respectively, beginning this year.