Uncertainty as to whether £5bn funding boost can meet demand for an extra 256,000 schools places by 2014 is exacerbating pressure on local authority finances, an influential Commons spending watchdog has reported. 

According to the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) study into capital funding for new school places, the Department for Education (DfE) has slowly improved how it shares funding, but could do still more to target cash to areas that need it most.