Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-06-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37487, whether the Education Funding Agency has directed academies to admit pupils 10 or 12 times since 2012; and how many directions sought by local authorities and referred on to the Schools Adjudicator were upheld in each year from 2005 to 2010.

Nick Gibb

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 May 2016 to Question 37487, the Education Funding Agency has directed academies to admit pupils 12 times between April 2012 and April 2016.

The Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) does not issue directions in relation to maintained schools but will determine the case if a school which a local authority is seeking to direct refers the case on to the adjudicator.

Prior to 2007, directions under section 96 and 97 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (SSFA) were determined by the Secretary of State. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 amended the SSFA to bring powers to the OSA to determine appeals.

The table below shows the number of directions upheld in each year from 2007 to 2010.