Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many new free schools were built each year since 2016-17; and how many free-schools have been approved for the next five years.

There are 446 open free schools, including 3 that have opened since 1 April 2019.

The total number of free schools opened in each academic year since 2016/17 is as follows:

The department has approved a further 285 applications from groups that we are now working with to establish free schools. This includes the 22 wave 13 free school applications that we announced on 14 June 2019. Furthermore, local authorities are currently running competitions to find academy trusts to establish an additional 37 special free schools and 2 alternative provision free schools across the country.