Roger Godsiff – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2014-04-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether academies are permitted to (a) sell and (b) otherwise financially profit from their holding of school title deeds which were formally held by local authorities.

Mr Edward Timpson

When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust.

There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice

A copy of the guidance has been placed in the House Library.

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