Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the difference in their definition of (1) a Free School, and (2) an Academy School.

An academy is a school or educational institution run by an academy trust that has a funding agreement with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. They are established and run in accordance with the Academies Act 2010. All free schools are academies.

All free schools are new institutions. In 2010, the government established the free schools programme where proposers apply directly to the department to open a new academy known as a free school. In addition, Section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 requires that, where a local authority thinks there is a need for a new school in its area, it must seek proposals to establish an academy. Since 2015, schools opening through this process have also been called free schools.