Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to support Central Bedfordshire Council with the transition from a three-tier to a two-tier school system.

Local Authorities can decide to transition from a three-tier to a two-tier school system. It is a Local Authority’s responsibility to manage such a transition. The Secretary of State is aware of some of the challenges faced, and recently met with parents, staff as well as representatives from the local community to discuss their concerns around delivering Central Bedfordshire Council’s transitional arrangements. The department’s role is to approve or decline changes to age ranges for schools that are academies. To date, the department has approved seven applications to support academies to become either primary or secondary schools.

The department provides capital funding through the Basic Need grant to support Local Authorities to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. While this funding is not designed to fund transitions from a three-tier to a two-tier system, the funding is not ringfenced, subject to published conditions, and Local Authorities are free to use this funding to best meet their local priorities. Central Bedfordshire Council will receive just under £36.1 million for places needed between May 2022 and September 2026, paid across the five financial years from 2021/22 to 2025/26. This takes their total funding allocated between 2011 and 2026 to just under £121.3 million.