Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department has issued to ensure staff at free schools receive appropriate levels of background check.

Free schools, like all other state-funded schools, are required by law to carry out a range of checks on staff, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

The Department for Education issues ‘pre-opening guidance’ to free school proposers to help them establish their schools. It includes guidance on their responsibilities for checking the suitability of staff. The guidance is published online at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/mainstream-free-school-pre-opening-guide