Today the national audit office announced that there will be a shortfall of a quarter of a million school places by next year. Yet at the same time the government is pumping billions into the Academies and Free schools programme, which will see money being taken from the public sector and syphoned off into the private sector.
“Kevin Brennan, the shadow schools minister, said Gove was failing in his primary duty to provide school places for children.
“David Cameron’s government needs to address the crisis in school places they have created. They have cut funding for school buildings by 60%, twice the Whitehall average and wasted £1bn through mismanaging academies,” he said.”
Local authorities are best placed to plan for new school places, yet they are being dismantled by the coalition and are struggling to deal with cuts. Many are still reeling from the massive loss of funds when BSF funding was cut.
