§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will update the information given in answer to the hon. Member for Rugby and Kenilworth (Mr. Pawsey),Official Report, 12 March, column 25, on surplus school places.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe premises-related costs at current prices of retaining a surplus primary and secondary place are now estimated to be £150 and £240 a year respectively. There are also opportunity costs arising from inefficient retention of buildings and land.
The latest estimate is that, in January 1989, there were approximately 830,000 surplus primary school places and 950,000 surplus secondary school places in England.
§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish a table in respect of surplus school places giving the targets for every year shown in each public expenditure White Paper, or elsewhere, from and including 1985, and the number taken out of use in each year from and including 1985, with an estimate for 1990, broken down by the number taken out as(a) a result of approved proposals and (b) by other means, to be specified.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe available information is in the following table. It is not possible to distinguish which surplus places were taken out of use in a given year as a316W result of approved proposals and which were removed by other means. Nor is it possible to estimate how many will be removed in 1990.
Cost places 000s Targets Actual removals 1985–86 1168 128 1986–87 167 106 1987–88 139 109 1988–89 137 118 1989–90 133 276 1990–91 110 — 1 From the report of the Joint Working Group on falling rolls and size of schools, 1986. 2 Provisional estimate.