Free Schools (Funding) Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Free Schools (Funding)

Jim Cunningham Excerpts
Monday 12th May 2014

(10 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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So far, some 83,000 places have been created, and as I pointed out earlier, these schools are overwhelmingly over-subscribed.

Jim Cunningham Portrait Mr Jim Cunningham (Coventry South) (Lab)
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In 2010, the Secretary of State cut Coventry’s schools programme. How much of that programme has now been reinstated?

Michael Gove Portrait Michael Gove
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It is important to bear in mind that the Building Schools for the Future programme was not the most effective way of allocating resources to local authority schools. We have increased provision for additional school places in Coventry, compared with the last Government: they spent £25 million and we are spending £41 million. Coventry is also the area that has benefited fastest from our new Priority School Building programme. Whitmore Park primary school was one of the first to open, just a couple of weeks ago, and there are other schools in Coventry in desperate need of maintenance money which we are now helping at a lower cost and faster than under Building Schools for the Future.