HC Deb 10 January 1996 vol 269 cc273-4W
Mr. Faber

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what conclusion she has reached following the consultation on the revised Education (School Premises) Regulations. [9026]

Mrs. Gillan

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I received 119 responses to the recent consultation exercise on the revised draft education (School Premises) Regulations. Comments were sent to us by local education authorities, schools, and a number of other organisations.

We have given careful consideration to the responses. The final version of the regulations and the circular will take account of a number of detailed points raised. The requirements in the current regulations that bear on the health, safety and welfare of pupils will be retained.

A number of the responses queried our proposal to deregulate area requirements for teaching accommodation and recreation areas. The Government are not, however, persuaded by the arguments that have been put forward for the retention of these requirements. In particular, we do not accept that the changes will mean that schools will have to accept more pupils or that there are any implications for class size. The powers of admissions authorities will be exactly the same as they are now, while the flexibility of governors and local authorities in the management of school facilities will be increased. We therefore propose to proceed with deregulation of these aspects of the regulations as originally proposed.

While we do not believe there is a case for maintaining the present statutory requirements, we do accept that local education authorities and school governors may find non-statutory guidelines useful for a variety of purposes. Two comprehensive sets of guidance will therefore be published, one covering school accommodation and one covering school grounds.

The guidance will set out a range of possible gross floor and site areas for schools, related to pupil numbers. It will also illustrate appropriate areas for the various curriculum activities, taking into account the requirements of the national curriculum. In conjunction with design bulletins on specific subjects, the guidance will provide benchmarks for LEAs and others to consider when assessing existing premises and when planning capital projects.

We now expect to lay the Education (School Premises) Regulations before Parliament in February.