We don't think the situation is that alarming at the moment, but it could present a concern for the future

Audit Commission spokeswoman

While praising the 135 authorities surveyed for reducing the number of unfilled places in primary and secondary schools, the commission said overcrowding had increased in 63% of LEAs between 1995/96 to and 1999/2000.

The commission said the rise in overcrowding was, in part, down to a 9% rise in secondary school rolls in the late 1990s.

"The growth in the secondary school age population is being met more by an increase in overcrowded schools than by the addition of new capacity in some LEAs," the report said.

One to watch

A spokeswoman for the Audit Commission said: "We don't think the situation is that alarming at the moment, but it could present a concern for the future."

"The figures are still quite low - the levels of overcrowding have risen from quite low levels to moderate levels of just a few percent, although we don't have details of how many schools it is," the spokeswoman said.

Graham Lane: "The government is not responding quickly enough"

The purpose of establishing these figures was to assist LEAs with their planning for future school expansion, she added.

Chair of education for the Local Government Association, Graham Lane, said the rise in school rolls had led to the overcrowding and the blame lay firmly with the Department for Education.

"The government hasn't kept up with the need to build new schools - there is still a grave problem in getting the necessary government permission to borrow money for new buildings or to apply for the private finance initiative," said Mr Lane.

"With the mobility of the population things change very quickly and the department is not responding quickly enough - meanwhile the kids are in school," he said.

Surplus places

In the Audit Commission report, local education authorities were praised for "good progress" in terms of reducing unfilled places at both primary and secondary level.

It is important that LEAs don't lose the momentum

Andrew Foster

The commission found more than 46,000 surplus places in primary schools and 128,000 in secondaries had gone, freeing up about �50m for improving the quality of education provision.

But action needed to be taken in the 35% of LEAs which still had high levels of unfilled primary places and the 24% with high levels of surplus places in secondary schools.

Andrew Foster, the commission's controller, said the progress made was very encouraging.

"There is now �50m extra funding that can be spent educating children, rather than maintaining and heating underused buildings.

"It is important that LEAs don't lose the momentum - the commission can help them to find out how they compare to similar LEAs and learn from the best of them. Planning for the future remains key," he said.