§ Dr. WrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how many surplus school places there were(a) in total and (b) as a percentage of school capacity in each local education authority in 1979 and each year since 1987.
§ Mr. ForthThe Department collected comprehensive information on surplus school places through a detailed survey in 1991. For the figures derived from that survey, I refer the hon. Member to the reply to the hon. Member for Warwickshire, North (Mr. O'Brien) on 31 January 1994,Official Report, columns 517–21. Detailed information by local education authority is not available for earlier years.
My right hon. Friend intends to make regulations later this year under section 21 of the Education Act 1993 requiring all LEAs and, where it has relevant responsibilities, the new Funding Agency for Schools, to 515W submit information to the Secretary of State annually, beginning in 1994, on the numbers of surplus places in LEA-maintained and grant-maintained schools respectively.