Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of feeder schools taking priority in school admissions on the average distance that pupils have to travel to school.

It is for admission authorities to set the oversubscription criteria which are most suitable for their schools according to their local circumstances. The School Admissions Code allows admission authorities to give priority within their oversubscription criteria to pupils attending a named feeder school. The selection of a feeder school or schools as an oversubscription criterion must be transparent and made on reasonable grounds.

Admission authorities must consult on any change to their admissions arrangements, including introducing a new feeder school, to ensure that any local impacts are considered. Once set, anyone who believes a school's admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful can object to the Independent Schools Adjudicator.