§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he proposes to take to deal with lack of capacity in Welsh medium schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Wyn RobertsThere remains in Wales considerable surplus capacity in schools resulting from falling numbers of pupils. Where there is insufficient capacity in existing Welsh-medium schools to meet parental demands for Welsh-medium education, I would encourage local education authorities to take steps to reorganise their166W provision so as to meet the demand. It is for LEAs to initiate proposals for such schemes. Gross provision for local authority capital expenditure on education was increased by 42 per cent. between 1985–86 and 1988–89. Next year provision will be increased by a further 11 per cent. to £52.9 million. One of the main objectives of these increases has been to encourage rationalisation.