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Written Ministerial Statements

Friday 27 February 2004

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Schools (Surplus Places)

The Minister for School Standards (Mr. David Miliband): We are today publishing data on surplus places in primary and secondary schools in England.

The survey returns indicate that there were 482,078 surplus primary places in January 2003. This is 11 per cent. of the total capacity of 4,450,723, and an increase in surplus of 33,041 places since 2001 when the last survey was conducted. This reflects the recent and continuing fall in numbers of primary aged children. In the secondary sector there were 231,391 surplus places, representing 7 per cent. of the total capacity of 3,455,993, and a fall in surplus of 19,342 places since 2001.

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Dealing effectively and sensitively with falling rolls presents a real challenge to individual schools and to local education authorities (LEAs). While it is for individual LEAs to consider the scope for removing surplus places, the Department encourages them, when planning, to concentrate on those schools with 25 per cent. or more surplus (and at least 30 surplus places) which are also performing badly.

In some cases it is sensible to propose the closure or amalgamation of schools. In others, surplus places can provide opportunities for extended schools providing a range of other services alongside schooling and for wider community use of school premises.

Recognising the scale of the challenge faced by many LEAs with falling primary rolls, the Department proposes to establish a working group with our partner organisations to explore the options and opportunities available to schools and communities.

The table attached sets out the numbers of primary and secondary surplus places by local authority area as at January 2003. The table also highlights the number of schools which had surplus of 25 per cent. or more, and at least 30 surplus places. The number of schools in this category has decreased by 25, from 2,441 in January 2001 to 2,416.

The number of LEAs having high levels of surplus places (20 per cent. of schools with 25 per cent. or more surplus and at least 30 surplus places) fell from 22 in 2001 to 19 in 2003.

Surplus Places 1 January 2003

	Primary				Secondary
	Actual Surplus 2		Schools with surplus of25 per cent. or more 3		Actual Surplus		Schools with surplus of25 per cent. or more 3
LEA Name	Number of places	Surplus as a per cent. of total places	Number	Per cent.	Number of places	Surplus as a per cent. of total places	Number	Per cent.
Barking & Dagenham	1,342	8			604	5
Barnet	2,520	10	9	10	960	4	2	10
Barnsley	1,175	6	3	4	805	6	1	7
Bath & NE Somerset	1,520	11	7	10	843	6	2	15
Bedfordshire	3,265	12	18	12	3,060	8	9	14
Bexley	1,779	8	7	11	812	4
Birmingham	7,162	7	25	8	2,998	4	3	4
Blackburn	1,048	7	4	7	795	8	1	11
Blackpool	719	6	3	9	335	4
Bolton	1,690	7	5	5	373	2
Bournemouth	1,182	10	5	18	490	5	1	10
Bracknell Forest	972	10	2	6	895	13	1	17
Bradford	7,150	14	29	18	2,992	8	2	7
Brent	2,950	13	10	17	1,185	7	2	14
Brighton & Hove	1,790	10	5	9	889	7	2	20
Bristol	3,880	13	23	19	2,039	11	1	5
Bromley	1,559	6	8	10	480	2
Buckinghamshire	4,332	10	22	12	1,257	4	1	3
Bury	1,102	7	4	6	253	2
Calderdale	1,891	10	6	7	497	3
Cambridgeshire	5,819	12	26	13	3,236	9	2	10
Camden	1,077	10	2	5	84	1
Cheshire	7,505	12	40	14	2,837	6	7	16
Cornwall	4,154	10	20	8	1,376	4
Corporation of London	6	3
Coventry	2,935	10	8	9	1,542	7	2	11
Croydon	2,414	8	9	10	1,923	10	1	5
Cumbria	3,450	8	18	6	4,207	11	6	14
Darlington	849	9	3	9	548	8
Derby City of	2,356	10	11	14	755	5	1	8
Derbyshire	6,504	10	40	11	3,117	6	3	6
Devon	5,291	9	32	10	1,523	4
Doncaster	3,152	14	15	14	1,712	7
Dorset	3,185	11	24	17	1,731	5	2	5
Dudley	2,687	9	6	7	595	3	1	5
Durham	8,552	18	69	28	4,079	11	4	8
Ealing	2,523	10	6	9	666	4	1	8
East Riding of Yorkshire	2,606	9	16	12	1,011	4
East Sussex	2,791	7	11	7	1,670	6	2	7
Enfield	995	4	3	5	2,326	10	1	6
Essex	13,462	11	48	10	6,003	6	4	5
Gateshead	2,710	15	16	21	972	8
Gloucestershire	4,794	10	27	11	2,737	6	2	5
Greenwich	2,289	11	7	11	1,905	12	2	13
Hackney	1,947	117	7	13	931	11	1	11
Halton	1,258	11	7	13	383	4	2	25
Hammersmith & Fulham	1,254	13	6	17	1,369	18	2	22
Hampshire	10,414	10	39	9	5,001	7	5	7
Haringey	1,616	8	4	6	698	6
Harrow	2,832	13	6	11	283	3
Hartlepool	837	9	3	10	629	9
Havering	1,155	6	2	3	974	6	1	6
Herefordshire	1,421	10	6	7	495	5
Hertfordshire	13,231	13	67	16	9,832	11	11	13
Hillingdon	2,528	11	6	9	1,133	6	2	12
Hounslow	2,174	11	6	10	441	3
Isle of Wight	1,012	12	1	2	1,543	11
Isles of Scilly	265
Islington	1,760	12	7	15	589	7	1	11
Kensington & Chelsea	617	9			202	5
Kent	9,455	8	36	8	6,915	7	12	12
Kingston upon Hull City of	3,913	15	7	9	1,070	6	1	7
Kingston upon Thames	768	7	2	5	619	7	1	10
Kirklees	3,948	11	15	10	2,989	10	4	13
Knowsley	3,595	20	19	32	1,768	15	2	18
Lambeth	1,826	9	5	8	762	10
Lancashire	12,466	12	67	14	4,816	6	4	5
Leeds	8,487	13	42	17	3,647	7	8	19
Leicester City	4,120	14	16	19	744	4
Leicestershire	5,629	10	26	12	1,816	4	3	4
Lewisham	2,343	11	6	9	711	6
Lincolnshire	6,844	11	42	15	3,533	7	7	11
Liverpool	5,906	14	24	17	2,286	6	2	6
Luton	1,756	9	5	8	344	3
Manchester	5,690	14	23	17	1,614	6	2	9
Medway Towns	2,574	10	12	13	1,649	8	1	5
Merton	2,836	19	8	19	870	9
Middlesbrough	2,245	15	11	24	797	10	1	13
Milton Keynes	3,266	13	17	20	1,542	11	2	18
Newcastle Upon Tyne	2,280	11	9	13	1,427	7	1	6
Newham	1,729	6	4	6	1,326	7	1	7
Norfolk	8,197	11	42	11	2,939	6	4	8
North East Lincolnshire	1,865	12	6	10	931	7	1	8
North Lincolnshire	1,101	8	1	1	1,167	10	1	7
North Somerset	782	5	4	6	250	2
North Tyneside	2,726	15	11	20	826	6
North Yorkshire	6,229	12	34	10	3,417	8	3	6
Northamptonshire	5,847	10	30	11	4,598	8	6	10
Northumberland	2,550	13	11	8	2,465	8	4	7
Nottingham City of	3,940	15	20	20	1,540	10	5	26
Nottinghamshire	6,121	9	29	9	3,670	7	3	6
Oldham	2,332	10	6	6	888	5	1	7
Oxfordshire	6,813	14	36	16	2,341	6	5	11
Peterborough	2,756	15	11	20	1,898	13	3	23
Plymouth City of	3,017	13	12	15	863	5	2	12
Poole	726	6			205	2
Portsmouth	2,384	14	13	25	802	7
Reading	1,751	16	7	18	854	12	2	29
Redbridge	1,091	5	1	2	1,245	6	1	6
Redcar & Cleveland	1,762	13	9	18	1,204	11	2	18
Richmond upon Thames	732	6	1	2	359	5
Rochdale	2,818	13	18	24	1,224	8	1	7
Rotherham	1,988	8	5	5	1,312	6	1	6
Rutland	608	19	5	29	345	13	1	33
Salford	3,097	14	19	23	2,154	15	3	21
Sandwell	4,096	13	19	19	1,917	9	1	6
Sefton	3,344	13	16	18	874	4	1	5
Sheffield	4,587	10	16	11	700	2
Shropshire	3,787	15	22	15	573	3
Slough	1,564	13	5	17	309	4	1	9
Solihull	1,162	6	4	6	164	1
Somerset	4,936	12	28	13	2,550	7	4	10
South Gloucestershire	2,942	11	10	10	1,462	8	1	7
South Tyneside	1,853	13	11	20	1,461	12	2	20
Southampton	1,776	10	7	11	1,478	11	2	14
Southend	723	5	1	2	638	5	1	8
Southwark	2,737	11	5	7	686	6	1	8
St Helens	1,402	9	4	7	298	2
Staffordshire	8,256	11	47	15	2,602	4	4	4
Stockport	2,302	9	11	11	794	5
Stockton on Tees	1,947	11	3	5	839	6
Stoke on Trent	3,663	16	15	19	487	3	1	6
Suffolk	5,688	11	25	10	4,957	8	6	8
Sunderland	3,844	14	13	15	2,146	10	4	17
Surrey	8,501	10	42	13	3,706	6	6	11
Sutton	915	6	3	7	598	4
Swindon	2,146	11	7	11	877	7	1	10
Tameside	1,824	9	6	8	808	5	2	11
Telford and the Wrekin	1,542	10	4	6	854	8	1	8
Thurrock	2,271	15	7	15	760	9	1	9
Torbay	807	8	3	9	145	2
Tower Hamlets	2,013	9	4	6	1,424	9	2	13
Trafford	1,187	6	6	8	993	6	2	11
Wakefield	3,846	12	15	12	614	3
Walsall	3,334	12	12	13	998	4	1	5
Waltham Forest	1,272	6	5	8	980	7	2	12
Wandsworth	2,025	12	9	16	679	6	1	11
Warrington	1,857	10	9	13	395	3
Warwickshire	4,263	10	20	10	2,652	7	2	5
West Berkshire	1,328	10	8	12	330	3
West Sussex	7,348	11	30	12	3,804	8	3	8
Westminster	1,122	11	3	8	840	9
Wigan	2,676	9	12	11	1,441	7	2	10
Wiltshire	6,877	16	47	21	3,974	12	8	24
Windsor & Maidenhead	670	8	5	11	524	5	1	8
Wirral	3,735	13	17	17	1,472	6
Wokingham	1,304	10	7	13	316	3
Wolverhampton	3,436	14	18	22	1,713	9	4	22
Worcestershire	4,616	11	26	13	2,589	6	5	7
York	2,455	16	12	22	608	6	1	9
TOTAL	482,078	11	2,146	12	231,391	7	270	8

Note 1: Primary figures show surplus after taking account of summer entry.

Note 2: Actual surplus is defined as the difference between capacity and number on roll for all schools where capacity exceeds number on roll.

Note 3: Schools with less than 30 surplus places are not included.Note 4: Blanks denote no surplus.

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