§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
What specific changes proposed under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and the associated guidance support the announcement by the Secretary of State for Education and Skulls on 27 August that protection for school playing fields is to be improved. [HL4448]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department for Education and Skills (Lord Filkin)Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 was introduced on 1 October 1998 to stop the indiscriminate sale of school playing fields that occurred in the 1980s and early to mid 1990s. During this time there was widespread concern at the unrestricted sale of school playing fields. If a local authority wanted to sell a school playing field there was nothing to stop it and it could spend the proceeds as it wished.
Local authorities and governing bodies of all maintained schools now need the Secretary of State's consent before they can dispose of a playing field or any part of a playing field.
The main changes announced by the Secretary of State to further strengthen the existing strict criteria against which applications are assessed are:
the sale of a playing field must be an absolute last resort with local authorities now having to demonstrate that they have exhausted all other sources of funding for the required school sports facilities;
sale proceeds must be used to improve outdoor sports facilities wherever possible, so that local authorities will have to provide first-class outdoor facilities before introducing new indoor facilities;
new sports facilities must be sustainable for at least 10 years, "locking-in" improvements and ensuring that they are available to pupils for the long term.