§ Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many acres of potential agricultural land are currently owned by educational authorities; and what is her intention as to the recommended deployment of this land in view of the cut-back in school building programmes.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonMy Department does not collect this information. Responsibility for choosing and securing the land required for maintained schools rests with local education authorities. The site for a maintained school must 465W meet certain statutory requirements and may also be the subject of a compulsory purchase order. Apart from these aspects the Department is not concerned with an authority's land holdings, acquisitions or disposals.