Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the financial effect on schools of the abandonment of her Department's policy of compulsory academisation.

Through our careful management of the economy we have been able to protect the core schools budget in real terms. That means schools are receiving more funding than ever before for children’s education, totalling over £40 billion this year.

We remain committed to seeing all schools, over time, become academies. The Department continues to support schools to convert and, in particular, support sponsors to turn around failing schools and to enable strong and effective multi-academy trusts to grow and improve.

New academies and free schools will continue to receive a pre-opening grant to support the costs of opening. Rates vary based on school type, from a £25,000 grant for a converter academy, to £80,000-150,000 for secondary schools becoming sponsored academies, where the grant supports costs of school improvement as well as conversion.

We also provide post-opening funding for new full sponsored academies to contribute towards leadership and other costs as new academies build up their pupil numbers. This ranges from £10,000 to £80,200, depending on the number of pupils on roll at opening as compared to the academy’s capacity.