Free Schools

The Government’s funding of free schools is incoherent and offers poor value for money.

The Public Accounts Committee, which I Chair, has today published its report into capital funding for schools.

The Department for Education needs to spend at least £6.7billion just to get all school buildings to a satisfactory state.

But they are choosing to open new free schools in areas which do not need them and are failing to fill places.

This is taxpayer's money that could be used to fund much needed improvements in thousands of existing school buildings. This is not a long-term sustainable approach to our children's education.

Read the report in full here.