Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Karen Buck

Monday 17th December 2018 Commons Chamber

[Ms Karen Buck (Westminster North) (Lab)]

T6. New figures show that primary schools in my borough of Westminster are now operating with one in five places unfilled, meaning that some schools will be threatened with closure. Will the Minister tell us when conversations were last had with the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to establish why we are exporting families from an area with a surplus of school places to boroughs with a shortage?

[Nick Gibb]

We have created 825,000 new school places in our system since 2010. We want parents to have a choice of school, which contrasts sharply with the previous Labour Government, who cut 200,000 primary school places.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Karen Buck

Monday 10th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

The latest published school capacity data, from May 2017, show that the number of unfilled, or surplus, primary school places in Westminster was 2,158, 17.8% of the total number available there.

[Ms Buck]

Given the shortage of primary school places in a number of local authority areas, particularly on the edges of London, and the fall in the number of primary school children in Westminster schools—driven by the Government’s welfare reform agenda—will the Minister explain why it was sensible to fund the Minerva Academy, a free school, which was only ever half full, moved twice, never ended up on its permanent site, and closed this summer owing to lack of demand?

[Nick Gibb]

Eighty-six per cent. of newly opened free schools are in areas where more places are needed, and that is the case throughout the country. The other 14% are in areas where people are unhappy with the quality of provision. I should add that it is prudent for local authorities to retain some spare capacity in the system to allow for parental choice and to enable local authorities to manage shifting demand for places, to look further ahead at forecast demand, and not to strip out existing places that will be needed in the long term. If Labour had taken that approach when it was in office, it would not have cut 100,000 primary school places from our school system.