Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications to open new free schools have been rejected on the grounds an individual applying has (a) been involved in illegal activities, (b) a criminal conviction and (c) been investigated or found guilty of misrepresentation, as per the Section 1 suitability and declaration form, in each year since 2010.

Our rigorous processes are designed to ensure that only people who are capable of providing pupils with a good education are allowed to open new schools. We assess applications to establish free schools against published criteria and take into account a range of contextual information. As set out in How to apply to set up a free school: guidance published at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/opening-a-free-school, the department carries out a range of checks on those proposing to set up and run free schools before and after they open. These include due diligence checks, credit checks and enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks and may include police and other checks necessary to ensure the suitability of people to be part of the free school programme. The results of these due diligence checks are taken into account when we make decisions about which applications to reject, but have not on their own led to a rejection decision.