§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Education how many surplus school places there are currently in the local education authority of(a) Doncaster, (b) Barnsley, (c) Rotherham and (d) Sheffield; and what were the figures (i) five years and (ii) 10 years ago.
§ Mr. ForthThe latest figures available on a comprehensive basis were collected by the Department through a detailed survey of all local education authorities 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 since no common basis for assessing school capacity existed until the introduction of the more open enrolment provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988.