Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of a bid for a Free School secondary school for Denton on the Two Trees site.

The Department is currently assessing applications for new free schools and is looking to approve up to 15 new schools in areas where they are likely to have the biggest effects on improving outcomes. The Department will prioritise proposals located in Education Investment Areas, where outcomes in literacy and numeracy are the poorest. Applications are assessed against the published criteria, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-application-guide/how-to-apply-to-set-up-a-mainstream-free-school. This is a competitive process and the successful applications will be announced before the summer.

No applications were received for Tameside and as such, it is difficult to advise on the suitability of the Two Trees site. Plans for future waves will be announced in due course. The free school presumption process is the route for Local Authorities to bring about the establishment of new schools where a Local Authority identifies the need for additional places. More information on this can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/844346/Free_school_presumption_051119.pdf.

The Regional Director’s office has been asked to contact the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish to meet and discuss this matter further, together with my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance, who is responsible for free schools policy.