Swindon Labour Group Call for More Government Investment in School Places

The Swindon Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Education, Councillor Cindy Matthews, has called for the government to produce more funding for increased school places in Swindon, following a recent National Audit Office report that 256,000 new school places will be needed across in 2014/15- 240,000 in primary schools.

The Swindon Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Education, Councillor Cindy Matthews, has called for the government to produce more funding for increased school places in Swindon, following a recent National Audit Office report that 256,000 new school places will be needed across in 2014/15- 240,000 in primary schools.

http://www.nao.org.uk/report/capital-funding-for-new-school-places/

Swindon, in particular, is in need of more school places with the recent opening of Croft Primary School, the expansion Haydonleigh and Even Swindon Primary Schools, the expansion of Orchid Vale Primary School and the planned openings of primary schools in the Town Centre and North Swindon.

The Coalition Government have said that they have increased investment to create more school places across the country, however as the table below makes clear, Department for Education funding to Swindon Borough Council for school places (called the Basic Need Grant for School Places) has dramatically reduced since 2010. From a high of £6.3m under the previous Labour Government to £4.3m in 2012/13.

DfE Allocations for new School Places in Swindon

Basic Need

2010/11

6,374,000

2011/12

2,864,002

2011/12 Additional

808,613

2012/13

3,323,592

2012/13 additional

978,665

Labour’s Shadow Lead for Education, Councillor Cindy Matthews, said:

“The National Audit Office Report has flagged up what we have known in Swindon for some time, that more government investment needs to be made in school places to meet the rising demand for school places and in particular, primary school places. Although this is a national problem, as the National Audit Office made clear, this particularly affects growth areas in the country, like Swindon.

Although the Coalition Government are saying they increased funding for more school places, in Swindon they have cut the amount of investment for increasing school places by about £2m compared to 2010 under the last Labour Government. This has put a real strain on Swindon Borough Council to deliver more school places and we have seen in North Swindon parents not being able to get a place for their child in their local school.  

What I would welcome from the government’s announced budget this week is capital investment in school places up to 2010 levels, which would not only enable more young people to be educated in their local school but would also create more jobs in the area.”

Cllr Cindy Matthews
Shadow Lead for Children Services & Education