Al-Madinah Free School Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Baroness Coffey

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Oral Answers to Questions

Al-Madinah Free School

Baroness Coffey Excerpts

Business of the House
Thursday 17th October 2013

(11 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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David Laws Portrait Mr Laws
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My hon. Friend makes an excellent point. I can certainly confirm to him that we have powers to take action against the school, as Lord Nash has already made very clear in his letter.

Baroness Coffey Portrait Dr Thérèse Coffey (Suffolk Coastal) (Con)
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Parents will have pressed for the Al-Madinah free school to be established because they felt that the school would provide a suitable education for their children. I am reassured by the actions already taken, but will the Minister also ensure that pre-applications are thoroughly scrutinised?

David Laws Portrait Mr Laws
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I will certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance. We scrutinise free school applications very carefully and reject many of them for a variety of different reasons. We will continue to scrutinise them very closely.

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