§ Mr. CoakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what steps his Department has taken to increase the ability of parents to send their children to the school of their choice. [85431]
§ Ms Estelle MorrisOur commitment to increase parental choice is made clear in the Code of Practice on Admissions which came into force on 1 April. The Code reminds LEAs and governing bodies that they have an overriding duty to comply with parents' declared preferred school for their child. We want parents to be able to send their children to their preferred school wherever practicable, and LEAs should make every effort to ensure that they have sufficient school places to allow the maximum number of parents to obtain a place at a school of their choice. The funding we are providing to LEAs to meet our infant class size pledge will enable 12,000 extra places at popular schools to be achieved.