Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department has spent since May 2010 on underwriting the salaries of staff at free schools when their school did not open or open on time as planned.

The Department for Education does not have a full breakdown of revenue spent on staff salaries for proposed free school projects.

The total pre-opening expenditure for free school projects that opened or were withdrawn in 2011 to 2013 is published on the Department's website:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/revenue-expenditure-for-free-schools