Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to help establish new free schools in Havering Borough.

The free schools programme remains an important part of this government’s plan to level up standards and respond where there is need for more school places. The programme has delivered hundreds of new schools and provided thousands of good school places across the country. This includes the Concordia Academy in my hon. Friend’s constituency, which Ofsted have rated ‘Outstanding’.

Alongside Concordia Academy, the London Borough of Havering has a further open free school, Drapers’ Maryland Primary School, which is Ofsted rated ‘Good’. At present there are a further four free schools that have been approved to open in Havering. These are Havering Special School, Harris Rainham Sixth Form, Emmanuel Community School, and Unity Romford Primary School. There have been some challenges to the progression of these projects, but the department is confident that all four free schools will open over the coming years. The department is working hard, in collaboration with the local authority, to deliver the schools as quickly as possible to ensure that we continue to raise educational standards for pupils in Havering.

The department will set out plans in due course for approving further mainstream free schools, where there is the greatest need for new school places, prioritising proposals in Education Investment Areas.