Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Lancaster City Council's Local Plan for Lancaster District 2011-2031: Strategic Options for Land Allocations, what assessment his Department has made of the potential expansion of demand for educational facilities for children and young adults that would arise under Option 5 of that plan.

Lancashire local authority has a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places available. The Department for Education continues to engage with Lancashire local authority, along with all other local authorities, to understand the place planning pressures they face.

The Department has not assessed Lancaster District council's plans for long-term expansion with regard to the provision of educational facilities. The council's plan is a local area consultation and decisions will be made at local level.

With regard to funding for additional school places, local authorities are asked to include potential pupils from new housing developments (where there is already planning permission or there is a high degree of confidence that they will go ahead) in their forecasts that they provide to the Department. These forecasts underpin the capital funding allocations for the delivery of school places. The Department has allocated a total of £83 million basic need funding to Lancashire local authority for the provision of school places between 2011-12 and 2016-17.

In addition to government funding, the Department expects housing developers to make a contribution to the infrastructure needs of the new communities created. Securing that funding is a matter for the local authority.