‘Millions wasted’ on free schools

Labour said it had compiled figures which showed the Government had spent at least £2.3m on free schools which it claimed were either not opening or lack support.

However the Government immediately denied the claims, insisting it would “never gamble with the future of our children” and that the figures had been “grossly exaggerated”.

The claims follow the controversy surrounding the decision not to fund the One in a Million Free school in Bradford just over a week before the start of term.

The decision has left up to 30 sets of parents in the city searching for new school places. The school, which was to be run by the One in a Million charity and based next to Bradford City football club was not funded because it had only recruited 30 year seven pupils when its capacity was 50.

The Rotherham Central Free School, which had been backed by a Chuckle brother, is another project in Yorkshire which was given initial backing to open in 2012 but has since lost Government support.

The Department for Education announced earlier this year it had withdrawn its approval for the school amid claims that it had no pupils, buildings or staff in place around eight months before it was supposed to open. Barry Elliott, one half of the Chuckle Brothers, was a patron for the school.

In a letter to Mr Gove, shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg said: “You said in May this year that ‘I have been determined to use the capital funding at my disposal to best effect, seeking value for money and efficiency from every pound spent’.

“I cannot see how you can justify this claim, when it emerges that millions of pounds of public money have been wasted by your Department on schools which either failed to open or lack local support from parents.”

Mr Twigg said Labour’s own figures suggest that “at least £2.3m has been wasted on pet projects”.

The letter cites the One In A Million Free School in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Beccles Free School in Suffolk, and the Riverdale Primary School in west London.

The Riverdale Primary School is now not opening. In June it emerged that Beccles Free School, which is scheduled to open this autumn, had received just 37 applications for 162 places, although the DfE said it now has 68 pupils.

In his letter, Mr Twigg claimed that £2m has been spent on Beccles. He also claimed that a number of free school projects have collapsed, citing the 
Chorley Career and Sixth Form Academy, Rotherham Central Free School in South Yorkshire and the Newham Free Academy in east London.

The DfE said early decisions had been taken to not go ahead with these three projects, and that no capital had been spent on the Rotherham and Newham 
schools.

A DfE spokeswoman said: “These figures are grossly exaggerated. Beccles Free School will open as planned this September with 68 pupils, and One In A Million Free School is considering deferring until next year.”

She said free schools were “overwhelmingly popular” with parents and are opening quicker, and more cheaply than previous school schemes.

A spokesman for Mr Gove added: “Stephen Twigg’s effort is back-of-the-envelope stuff that doesn’t stack up. Beccles Free School actually has double as many pupils as he claims which he could have found out by simply Googling.

“The real scandal is the millions upon millions the Labour government wasted on Building Schools For The Future, which Twigg himself has admitted didn’t deliver value for money.”