§ Mr. BoswellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many children were kept out of school at the beginning of the autumn term owing to uncompleted building work. [7260]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Department does not collect this type of information. It is the responsibility of LEAs to set term dates and to ensure that schools must deliver a minimum of 380 half day sessions in the school year and that they must open for at least 190 days in each year. Under exceptional circumstances where school opening has been delayed for a short time, as a result of delayed building works or other urgent health and safety related grounds, we would expect LEAs to encourage schools to use training days to avoid defaulting on the number of sessions delivered. We expect LEAs and schools to programme building works in a way that minimises disruption; however, building work can still be delayed through unforeseen problems or inclement weather.