Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the first tier tribunal decision notice of 2 July 2014, reference EA/2013/0270*, if he will take steps so that personal information in all future free school applications can be redacted easily and quickly and at reasonable cost; if he will make it his policy to release all future free school applications with any personal information that could identify individuals redacted; and if he will make a statement.

The Department for Education takes its responsibility for protecting personal data very seriously. The first tier tribunal ruled that it would place too high a burden on the Department, and therefore the taxpayer, to redact and release every free school application that it had received under that Freedom of Information request.