Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37381, if she will publish the pre-opening costs of free schools by each category of expenditure commonly incurred in the pre-opening stage.

As stated in my response to question 37381, the total pre-opening revenue expenditure for free school projects that opened or were withdrawn or cancelled in 2011 to 2015 is published on the Department's website: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/523706/Free_Schools_Data_for_Publication.xlsx

The capital costs of all free school projects, including any costs incurred on projects that have withdrawn, are included in the Department for Education’s annual accounts which are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dfe-annual-reports

Management of the grant is the responsibility of the academy trust and must comply with the requirements of the Academies Financial Handbook. We do not specify how the funding should be allocated and do not have a breakdown by category of expenditure.