Tracey has welcomed the recent figures from the Department of Education which demonstrate that this Government is spending over £5 billion on new school places. This includes £117, 531,348 in Kent schools and £21,924,728 in Medway schools.

Figures show that funding for new school places across the country has increased to £5 billion in 2011/15, more than double spent by the previous government – where we saw school places cut by 200,000. A further £2.35 billion of funding has also been announced for 2015/17.

Local schools in Kent have received an extra 2620 new primary places between 2009/10- 2012/13 under this government and Medway have received an extra 120 new primary places between this period.

Commenting, Tracey said:

‘I warmly welcome these figures and the swift action taken by this Government to double the funding for school places across the country, including £117, 531,348 for new school places in Kent and £21,924,728 for Medway. This will deliver 8890 extra Kent primary places and 2060 Medway places by 2016, which will help to ensure we can deliver the best schools for our young people so that they have the skills they need to get on in life.’