Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data sources her Department uses to determine the expected future demand for school places to inform a decision on closing a secondary school.

Local authorities are responsible for providing enough school places for children in their area. Data on the need for future school places is supplied by local authorities. This is provided through the annual School Capacity Survey, which includes primary and secondary school capacity by local authority and pupil forecasts for five years for primary and seven years for secondary.

All decisions related to LA maintained school closures are taken locally. The Department is responsible for administering the process to close academies.