Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has had discussions with Torbay Unitary Authority on enabling Combe Pafford School Torquay to admit pupils directly from Devon County Council where appropriate.

The department’s officials have not had discussions with Torbay Council on enabling Combe Pafford School to admit pupils directly from Devon County Council, but we would be happy to discuss this with the local authority. Funding provided directly by the department to Combe Pafford School is for places and not assigned to specific pupils. The relevant local authority pays top-up funding for individual pupils in excess of the school’s core place funding. As a special academy, Combe Pafford School must admit any child or young person whose education, health and care plan names the school, regardless of the local authority they live in.