MPs raise fears over impact of school places shortfall

The warning from the Public Accounts Committee comes as new figures show that nearly two-thirds of councils are already having to dip into their building maintenance budgets to fund facilities to accommodate existing school places.

The committee's report on school funding says the situation could see local authorities having to take drastic measures that could harm pupils' education to ensure a quarter of a million extra places needed by the start of the 2014/15 academic year can be found.

Chair of the committee, Margaret Hodge MP said: “What is also being lost in all of this is the effect that different ways of providing new places might have on pupils’ learning. It does not take much imagination to realise that educational opportunities and standards might be diminished if specialist areas, such as music rooms and libraries, are converted into classrooms, poorly performing schools expanded, or playgrounds used to house children in overcrowded demountables [portable classrooms].”

In 2011/12, there were 6.8 million children aged under 16 in local authority controlled schools, but the numbers of four- and five-year-olds entering reception classes has been steadily rising for the past decade.

Despite this, the Department for Education and local authorities have not been properly planning for the rise in the pupil population, the committee says, with the result being that 20 per cent of primary schools were at capacity in May 2012 and the numbers of infant school pupils being taught in classes of over 30 has doubled in the last five years. Many of the worst-hit schools are in deprived areas and inner cities, where birth rates tend to be higher.

Although councils are ultimately responsible for ensuring there are enough school places in their local areas, the committee says the DfE has the ultimate oversight "to use capital funding to best effect to provide sufficient places in schools parents want to send their children to".

Hodge added: "256,000 school places are needed by September 2014, but the DfE does not know whether the £5bn it is contributing will be enough to pay for them or even spent to best effect.

"The department failed to identify in time the rising demand for school places. Growth in demand is concentrated in particular areas of the country. Without enough resources to provide new places, some authorities are forced to sacrifice facilities or expand classes beyond the statutory 30 children per class."

The report also highlights how the expansion of academies and creation of free schools has hindered local authorities' ability to meet the growing demand for school places. It hints that government should look to encourage schools that are independent of local authority control to help address the situation.

The committee said: "Local authorities need to have mature discussions with all parties, including academies and free schools, to resolve any mismatch between demand and supply for their communities as a whole.

"We hope that discussions at local level always prove successful, but the department needs to be clear about how it will achieve the best value for money solutions in the event that local discussions fail to achieve a resolution. Free schools and academies are directly accountable to central government, but the government has no mechanism to force them to expand to meet the demand."