Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 3 May 2016 to Question HL8119, what (a) her policy is on and (b) criteria will be used to allocate the £300 million for failing schools.

Our ambition remains that all schools should benefit from the freedom and autonomy that academy status brings. Our focus is on building capacity in the system to enable schools to convert voluntarily. We will also continue to convert all schools that are judged inadequate by Ofsted so they can benefit from the support of a strong sponsor.

It is important to be clear that the funding referred to in the previous answer is not solely for failing schools. As set out in our original response, it is funding that has been made available to support all schools converting to academy status, including failing schools.

The criteria for allocating pre-opening funding to converting schools is well established and remain unchanged. Voluntary converters receive £25,000 in order to contribute to the cost of conversion. Sponsored converters receive between £70,000 and £150,000, depending on the type of school and level of failure.