§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the average time taken between the first submission to his Department of an application by a local education authority relating to a school closure or reorganisation and final decision by Ministers, for the latest available period, and for such of the years from and including 1980 for which information is available.
§ Mr. MacGregorData are available only for the average time taken between the publication—as opposed to submission to the Department—of statutory proposals under sections 12, 13 and 15 of the Education Act 1980 and a final decision by the Secretary of State in each of the calendar years from 1986 to 1989, as follows:
Year Average time taken (months) 1986 7.30 1987 7.35 1988 7.97 1989 6.64 These figures exclude proposals which fell to be determined by a local education authority.
§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will update the table relating to school closures in the answer to the hon. Member for Blackburn,Official Report, 12 July, column 314, to give the latest available information in respect of 1990.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe information is in the following updated table:
194W
Calendar Year Number of proposals decided Number of places to be taken out of use by proposals in column 2 Number of proposals in column 2 approved Number of surplus places to be taken out of use as a result of approved proposals (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 1983 366 104,174 330 85,606 1984 292 85,862 270 77,590 1985 205 101,097 185 88,218 1986 172 81,663 147 62,828 1987 159 55,116 134 45,326 1988 145 64,256 116 27,170 1989 140 59,527 114 41,831 11990 107 28,558 94 28,043 1 1 January to 30 September 1990.