Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of children entering secondary school were unable to enter their first-choice school in Blackpool South constituency in the (a) 2014-15 and (b) 2009-10 academic year; and what those numbers represent as a proportion of the total number.

School preference data is only available at local authority level for both of the specified academic years. The figures for Blackpool local authority are given below.

In 2009-10, 59 applications made by parents of applicants in Blackpool for secondary school places were not offered their first choice school. This represents 4.0% of applications. The 2009-10 data is published online at:

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151655/http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/ssa012009v2pdf.pdf

In 2014-15, 207 of applications made by parents of applicants in Blackpool for secondary school places were not offered their first choice school. This represents 14.9% of applications. The 2014-15 data is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/secondary-and-primary-school-applications-and-offers-2014