This report is published today. It is a pity that London Councils' press release does not include a demand for the restoration of local authorities powers to plan and build new schools where they arte needed.
London will need to create
113,000 new school places over the next five years, requiring investment of at
least £1.5 billion as the capital’s school population rises by 12 per cent,
according to a new report published today.
‘Do The Maths 2015’ from London
Councils, which represents the 32 London boroughs and the City of London, reveals
that the Department for Education is not funding London boroughs sufficiently
to meet the cost of providing new school places between 2015 and 2020.
Over the next five years London
is set to experience pressure on both primary and secondary school places, with
secondary in greatest need by the end of this parliament. London faces a
shortfall of 78,275 primary school places and 34,835 secondary school places
short by 2020.
With many London primary schools
already expanded and secondary school expansions costing as much as 50 per cent
more than primary, the straightforward options for increasing school capacity
are disappearing.
Cllr Peter John, London
Councils’ Executive Member for Children, Skills and Employment, said:
“At a time when budgets are under pressure across the board, boroughs cannot continue to subsidise the cost of school places in London. Time is running out for the Government to fully support councils’ efforts to provide primary and secondary school places in the capital over the next five years.“Councils in London have worked exceptionally hard with school heads and governors since 2010. But without sufficient resources it will be extremely difficult to manage complex primary expansions and meet the rising demand for secondary school places in the future.”
London Councils is calling on
the Department for Education to recognise the unprecedented challenge of
creating almost 35,000 new secondary places in the capital and the associated
site acquisition and building costs.
It is also asking for Government
to fully fund the expansion of school places in London by allocating at least
an additional £1.5 billion of Basic Need funding for the two-year period
2018/19 to 2019/20.
A commitment to increasing the
funding offered per school place to ensure this matches the actual costs, as
well as adequate funding to secure places in special schools and provision in
mainstream schools for children with special education needs and disabilities
(SEND), are the other main asks in the report.
