Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the pension deficit carried by Sandymoor Free School in Runcorn is.

We have no concerns regarding financial management at Sandymoor Free School and the Trust does not have a financial deficit.

On educational attainment, whilst the school received a good judgement from Ofsted in January 2014 it remains an academy of concern. The Progress 8 score in summer 2016 was -1.1 which is significantly below the LA average of 0.19 and the national average of 0. Only 33% of pupils achieved Grade C or above in English & maths (LA: 60.2%, National: 59.3%).

The pension deficit of the Trust for 2015/16 is £295,000.

The latest published financial statements for Sandymoor Free School 2015/16 show a cumulative carry forward surplus of £197,632.