<p>Shortage of School Places</p>

Part of 3. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 2:52 pm on 6 July 2016.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 2:52, 6 July 2016

It falls to me to congratulate first the Cabinet Secretary on her first outing in her new job, which I very warmly and genuinely extend to her. I’m sure she will be a great success in her job. But I’m afraid I can’t share the complacency that the answer I’ve just listened to exudes because there is a significant difference between different parts of Wales where there are significant shortages in some places and surpluses in others. For example, in Cardiff High School this year there were 635 applications for 240 places but in our own region in Powys 25 per cent of secondary places are empty. Across the border in Shropshire, there are one third of schools that are over-subscribed. I wonder if the Cabinet Secretary can share with us her thoughts on how we might rebalance education within Wales but without depriving rural schools of their current funding.