Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what options are available to parents who cannot send their children to a co-educated secondary school because of a lack of local availability and do not wish to set up a free school themselves.

Local authorities are under a statutory duty to provide a sufficient supply of schools and school places that meet the needs of the communities they serve.

When a parent is refused a school place they have an unqualified right of appeal to an independent appeal panel. The decision of the appeal panel is binding – if the appeal is upheld, the admission authority must offer the child a place at the school.

If a local authority decides that there is a need for additional co-educational places in its area, it could either expand an existing co-educational school or set up a new Free School, via the free school presumption route.