Schools: Buckinghamshire
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking with local authorities to ensure that school capacity is adequate for demand arising from new housing development in north Buckinghamshire.
Answered by Department for Education
Local authorities have a statutory duty to secure sufficient school places for children in their area. The department provides capital funding through the basic need grant to support local authorities to provide school places, based on their own pupil forecasts and school capacity data. Buckinghamshire Council has been allocated just under £67.7 million of basic need funding to support it to create mainstream school places needed between May 2024 and September 2028.
Developer contributions are also an important way of helping to meet demand for new school places when housing developments are driving pupil numbers. The department publishes guidance to support local authorities to secure contributions for education from developers.
The department engages with councils on a regular basis to review their plans for creating additional places and to consider alternatives where necessary. When local authorities are experiencing difficulties, we support them to find solutions as quickly as possible.
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