HC Deb 14 November 2001 vol 374 c752W
Mr. Hawkins

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Minister for Sport's answer to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath on 5 November 2001,Official Report,column 4, what was the basis of the analysis her Department used for the calculation of numbers of playing fields disposed of during the period 1992 to 1997. [14844]

Mr. Caborn

Public concern about the loss of school playing fields led directly to the introduction in October 1998 of section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Before section 77 was introduced, only grant-maintained schools were required to seek consent from the Secretary of State before selling land, including areas of their playing fields. Local authorities and other schools that owned their own playing fields were free to sell without restriction. The then Department for Education and Employment estimated that an average of 40 playing fields a month were sold in this way before October 1998. Their estimate is based on the number of playing field disposals at grant-maintained schools between April 1996, when the previous Government further encouraged the disposal of playing fields by relaxing the Local Authority Capital Finance Regulations which governed the use of sale proceeds, and 1 October 1998, when section 77 took effect. During this 30-month period, some 64 grant-maintained schools were given approval to dispose of areas of playing field, which is an average of over two a month. Using the proportion of grant-maintained schools at that time compared with the number of other schools, the Department for Education and Skills estimate the total number of playing field disposals each month to have been around 40.