Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) average, (b) shortest and (c) longest time taken was to issue a direction to admit a child to an academy by the Education Funding Agency, since the creation of that agency.

The Education Funding Agency was created on 1 April 2012. Since then, it has issued four directions to admit to academies. The average time taken to issue these directions was 78 working days. The shortest time was 42 and the longest 142 working days.

In each case, the EFA encourages academies and local authorities to resolve the matter locally without the need for a formal direction and in most cases this happens. Where a local resolution is not reached, the EFA gathers evidence from the complainant and the academy before issuing its decision.