Written question asked by David Warburton (Conservative) on Tuesday, 19 April 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 25 April 2016 (named day). It was answered by Sam Gyimah (Conservative) on Monday, 25 April 2016 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Schools: Somerton and Frome

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to meet demand for school places in Somerton and Frome constituency.

Answer: Supporting local authorities to ensure sufficient school places continues to be one of the Government’s top priorities. That is why we have committed to spending £7 billion on school places up to 2021, which, along with our investment in the free schools programme, we expect to deliver 600,000 new places. Somerset received £14.6 million of basic need funding between 2011 and 2015, which helped to create almost 3,000 new places between 2010 and 2015. It has also been allocated a further £24.5 million to create the places needed by 2019.

Secondary information