Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help increase the number of primary school places in Canterbury.

The statutory duty to provide sufficient school places sits with local authorities. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own forecast data. They can use this funding to provide places in new schools, or through the expansion of existing schools and can work with any school in their local area, including academies and free schools.

In March 2022, the department announced Kent will receive just below £43 million to support the provision of new school places needed for 2024 and just over £5 million for 2025. This takes their total funding allocated between 2011 and 2025 to just below £422 million.

The department also engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, the department supports them to find solutions as quickly as possible.