ATL comment on PAC report on capital funding for schools

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “The PAC report is a devastating critique of the Government's failure to provide sufficient school places for a rapidly growing pupil population. The report also details the exorbitant costs associated with the setting up of free schools, often in areas where they are not needed, which has the effect, in a rapidly worsening funding crisis, of further reducing the budgets of existing schools in those areas.

“Local authorities are in a catch-22. They are responsible for providing sufficient school places, but cannot build schools to meet the needs of the rising pupil population in their area. This is a ludicrous position for them to be in.

“The Government must get a grip. It must reinstate local authorities into the planning and provision of school places, and demonstrate that funding will be made available to stop school buildings deteriorating further.”