Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-05-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools have opened in areas where there are surplus places in the age range covered by the school in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson

Every free school has been approved for opening in response to either the need to provide extra school places for the future, the need to provide parents with greater choice or the need to provide more high quality places. Of the open mainstream free schools reported in School Capacity data in May 2015, all of which were approved prior to January 2014, seven in ten were approved in areas where there was a basic need for additional school places.

85% of mainstream free schools approved since January 2014 – the majority of which have not yet opened – are in areas where School Capacity data showed there was a basic need for additional school places. The remaining 15% were approved on the basis of more recent local authority intelligence of future need for places; in areas where there was a need for additional high quality places or to create additional choice or diversity.