Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Jess Phillips (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 June 2016, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 June 2016 (named day). A holding answer was provided on Monday, 13 June 2016. A substantive answer was provided by Edward Timpson (Conservative) on Wednesday, 15 June 2016 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Academies: Freehold

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academy schools hold the freehold of their school sites.

Answer

The Department does not retain a central record of the land holding arrangements for individual academies. However, the vast majority of academies will be occupying sites on the basis of a lease from the relevant local authority.

No school gains the freehold of a school site as a result of becoming an academy. Academies own their own land only where the school already owned the land before converting to academy status. These are usually former foundation or voluntary schools which are generally the freeholders of their own land even as maintained schools and in the case of voluntary schools which tend to mainly occupy land which was not originally provided by the state.

The Department does not have detailed information on the current and historic ownership of academy land and buildings, and had chosen not to prioritise the expenditure necessary to resolve the issue.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
39667
Session
2016-17
Subjects
Freehold Academies
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk