Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2023 to Question 132392 on Admissions: Academies, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of granting local authorities the power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of (a) short term and (b) acute demand for school places.

The Department is not currently considering giving Local Authorities a power to direct academies to admit pupils in periods of demand for school places.

While it is for academies, as their own admission authority, to determine the numbers of places they provide, the Department does expect academy trusts along with other schools to collaborate with Local Authorities to provide additional places where these are needed, particularly where an academy has spare capacity that can be brought into use.

The Department supports Local Authorities with capital funding through the Basic Need Grant to meet their statutory duty to provide sufficient school places. The Department provides revenue funding as part of the Designated Schools Grant that Local Authorities can use to support schools to manage a significant growth in pupil numbers.