Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding her Department has provided to the Baker Dearing Trust in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

The Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s annual accounts are published each year. They show that the Baker Dearing Educational Trust has received grant funding to provide pre-approval support to groups that wish to apply to the Department to open a University Technical College as set out in the table below:

Between 1 January 2015 and 30 September 2015, the department paid the Baker Dearing Educational Trust grant funding of £116,912. The Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s accounts for 2015 will be published in due course.

The first grant to the Baker Dearing Educational Trust in April 2011 was awarded directly to the trust. Subsequent grants have been awarded after a competitive tender process.