Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral Statement of 17 July 2017 on Schools Update, Official Report, column 563, what assessment he has made of the implications for his Department's policy on free schools presumption of the 30 free schools delivered through the local authority route.

On 17 July 2017 the department announced that in delivering plans for a further 140 free schools we would deliver 30, through the local authority route. Since then, we have approved 18 schools to be delivered through this route.

On 11 May 2018 we published updated guidance for local authorities on the free schools presumption process. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/establishing-a-new-school-free-school-presumption.