Bill Wiggin – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Wiggin on 2014-05-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications for free school status for which the Church of England has agreed to provide school premises have been (a) approved and (b) rejected.

Mr Edward Timpson

The Department for Education does not hold the information in the form requested.

Whether applicants already have premises for their proposed school, and who provides those premises, are not, on their own, material factors in the decision to approve or reject a free school application. Rather, that decision is based principally on an assessment of the need for the school, the strength of the applicants’ education plans and their ability to deliver a school that is financially viable and likely to be judged “good” or “outstanding” by Ofsted.