Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-26.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what factors she takes into account in considering a request from a local authority to dispose of school sites under Schedule 14 of the Education Act 2011.

Edward Timpson

Since January 2013, the Secretary of State for Education has received:

• 1 application from Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, this is currently being considered.
• 4 applications from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, all have been approved.
• 19 applications from the Greater Manchester combined authority, 1 is being considered and the other 18 have been approved.

These figures include applications in those local authorities relating to land held by Academy Trusts under a lease from the local authority.

The Education Act 2011 requires that the Secretary of State must give consent prior to the disposal of land which has been used for any school or academy in the last eight years. Secretary of State consent is also required under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 where local authorities wish to dispose of playing field land that has been used by a school in the last ten years. A key consideration for the government is whether the land proposed for disposal could be suitable for use by a new school.

There are a range of reasons for these disposals. Some disposals are leases from the academy trustees back to the local authority, which allow a children’s centre on site to continue or which provide land for another school. A substantial number of consents refer to local authority maintained school sites for outright disposals where the school has closed or relocated to a new build site.