Shabana Mahmood – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Shabana Mahmood on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many studio colleges have fallen behind or failed to meet the levels of student recruitment required for them to meet the terms of their funding agreements.

Mr Edward Timpson

Post-opening student recruitment targets are only included in funding agreements for studio schools where there has been concern about potential pupil recruitment prior to the school opening.

Five studio schools have specific termination clauses relating to post-opening student recruitment targets in their funding agreements. One school closed on 31 August 2013 and another is due to close on 31 August 2014 because they did not fulfil the funding agreement criteria in respect of the pupil recruitment target. Neither school was given an extension of time to meet the target. The other three schools have not yet reached the deadlines for their pupil recruitment targets.

The majority of studio schools opening in September 2013 and all those due to open in September 2014 have pre-opening targets for student recruitment included in their funding agreements to ensure that the schools will be financially viable upon opening.