§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if his formula for a school place in secondary schools permits each pupil within its specified pupil total to possess inside an all-purpose class, or similar room, a personal desk or locker of minimum cubic capacity.
§ Mr. ForthThe formula for measuring the capacity of schools used in the implementation of the more open enrolment provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 does not cover this level of detail. It is up to schools how they use and furnish their teaching accommodation.
§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) if, in his assessment of school occupancy, he includes classrooms, workshops or other buildings of a temporary character; and when his policy was last changed and reviewed;
(2) what adjustments have been made in the minimum standards in relation to a school place in secondary schools in the last 15 years; for what reasons; and what assessment he has made of any change in pupil space requirements consequent on the introduction of the national curriculum;
(3) if he will state the latest official criteria of what constitutes a school place in (a) maintained primary and (b) maintained secondary schools; and what comparative studies have been made between the minimum standards laid down in (b) and any group of schools whose heads are members of the (i) headmasters or (ii) headmistresses conferences.
§ Mr. ForthThe more open enrolment provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 mean that schools must, in most cases, admit pupils until they are full. Each school has a standard number, or an approved admission number in the case of a grant-maintained school, which reflects previous levels of intake or the school's physical capacity as measured against a prescribed formula. All suitable permanent and temporary accommodation is taken into account in the assessment of standard numbers or approved admissions numbers.
848WThe provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 and the advice contained in departmental circulars 11/88, Admissions to County and Voluntary Schools, and 6/91, Implementation of More Open Enrolment in Primary Schools, represent the latest steps in a process of continual refinement in the calculation of school capacity.
I am not aware of any comparative studies covering independent schools.
§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what advice, or requirement, he makes in approving capital consent for new secondary buildings in respect of(a) the need for split, or smaller, teaching groups for certain classes held in rooms deemed capable of accommodating 30 or more pupils and (b) the need for a significant proportion of space to remain empty in order to construct an educationally efficient timetable.
§ Mr. ForthCapital support for new or extended secondary schools is made available through annual capital guidelines to LEAs, and by grant aid for voluntary aided and self-governing GM schools, according to the assessed need for new places in an area. The level of support is based on cost multipliers which reflect the average cost of providing new places. The cost multipliers are based on costs actually achieved in LEA building projects.
§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what cost limits applied to newly built primary and secondary schools, respectively, in respect of costs per place of the building, net of site costs, and the name, date and authorisation of any official publication advising on how minimum space requirements could be obtained within the limits without prejudice to other costs, including future maintenance.
§ Mr. ForthThere are no cost limits in respect of expenditure per place on individual LEA schools, although limits may, in the case of voluntary aided schools, be placed on the levels of our grant aid. Under the capital finance system LEAs are free to spend what they like on individual projects. In determining the basic need—that is, the requirement for new school places in areas of population growth—element of the 1994–95 annual capital guidelines, the Department used per place cost multipliers, valued as follows:
£ Primary 3,747 Secondary 5,116 Secondary (16+) 6,128 These are based on actual LEA projects providing places in new schools and extensions. They include the cost of the buildings, external works, furniture and equipment and professional fees. They do not include the cost of site purchases or VAT. The cost in each case represents a level of achievement being met by about a third of LEAs. The teaching standards adopted in the project are about 15 per cent. above the regulation minimum for a 210-place primary school, and about 8 per cent. above the minimum for a typical secondary school.
The Department's most recent guidance in respect of new primary, schools, published in 1989 and called "St. John's School Sefton: the design of a new primary school," illustrated lower teaching area standards than those indicated above. No recent comparable publication has been produced related to secondary schools.
849W
§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what study he has made, or is planning, of the amount of space available per secondary pupil in any group of independent schools, which are charitable foundations, which are making economical use of their premises.