Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the average time taken to register a new school; and whether she is taking steps to reduce processing times.

The Department acts as the regulator of independent schools on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education. The Department’s registration guidance document is clear that the process for registering a new independent school can take around six months from receipt of a complete application. The Department is content that this target is being met. For the period February to June 2023, it has taken on average 23 weeks to reach a decision on registration from the date on which a complete application was submitted.

The Department follows a robust set of processes that aim to safeguard and protect children and ensure that only applications that are likely to meet all of the independent school standards (ISS) are approved for registration. Schools not meeting the ISS are not providing a safe and suitable education for children. The Department’s processes include a mandatory pre-registration inspection conducted by Ofsted on the degree to which the ISS are likely to be met in this school. Any proposal to reduce the processing time must ensure that the safety and wellbeing of children is not reduced through more limited scrutiny of new applications.