Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the most recent round of funding granted through the voluntary-aided schools: capital scheme.

The first round of the voluntary-aided (VA) capital scheme ran from November 2018 to February 2019. The successful bid, from the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia (RCDEA) for a Catholic primary school in Peterborough, was announced in June 2019. Following receipt of in-principle agreement from the Department to provide capital funding, proposers are required to complete the statutory process to establish new VA schools. Peterborough City Council approved the statutory proposals from RCDEA on 27 January 2020.

A feasibility study will now be carried out before the Department gives final agreement to provide funding. We will announce further information about round two of the scheme in due course, taking into account lessons from the first round.