By Nick Mann | 4 November 2011
More than 100 English local authorities will receive a share of a £500m fund for additional school places, Education Secretary Michael Gove has revealed.
Announcing the allocation yesterday, Gove said the funding had been awarded to the 110 councils with the highest demand for school places.
The London Borough of Redbridge will receive the largest grant – more than £28.5m. Three other London boroughs will also receive more than £20m each. In total, 16 local authorities will receive in excess of £10m each in additional funding. The money, first announcedin July, will be paid to councils this financial year.
The allocations were based on figures provided to the Department for Education by local authorities through the 2011 School Capacity and Forecast Information returns.
Gove said that, by using the most up-to-date information available to it, the department had aimed to make sure the money was being targeted to local authorities experiencing the most severe need.
The £500m comes from savings in secondary school building projects still being developed under the previous government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.
He said: ‘The nature of this funding (capital grant which is not ring-fenced), the nature of the projects it will fund (mainly small primary school projects), and the readiness of local authorities to get projects under way mean that this money will be spent efficiently.
‘Further, I expect much of it to benefit small and medium-sized enterprises and to stimulate local economic activity across the country.’
Gove added that further capital allocations to meet ‘basic need and maintenance pressures’ would be announced later this year. These, he said, could benefit schools that had not received a share of the £500m funding.
