0370 270 6000

Search

Search Mobile

collapse

already registered?

Please sign in with your existing account details.

Email address

Password

Sign in with LinkedIn

need to register?

Register to access exclusive content, sign up to receive our updates and personalise your experience on brownejacobson.com.

Privacy statement - Terms and conditions

Register with LinkedIn

Forgotten your password?

collapseSign

Browne Jacobson home

Home

Insights

Blogs

The true cost of Free Schools?

the true cost of free schools?

31 August 2012

The government’s flagship free schools policy is being questioned again on the grounds of costs incurred for those projects which do not reach completion – such as the One in a Million Free School in Bradford. Labour has stated that over £2m has been wasted on projects which were not needed on capacity grounds or not wanted by the local community. The Department for Education’s response is that money is not being wasted and that new schools bring new increased opportunities for children and their communities are being created at a greater rate than ever before.

It is still very early days for the free schools project and the true costs and indeed the benefits cannot be properly assessed until results on performance are available. The key measure will be whether evidence can be found that the gap in educational achievement is narrowed for those disadvantaged children which the policy was implemented to support.

related opinions

Home Office Central Registry for modern slavery statement goes live - first universities publish statements

The Home Office recently launched a central registry for modern slavery statements. A growing number of educational organisations, including a number of universities, have published statements on the registry.

Allegations of abuse in schools, colleges and universities

The website “Everyone’s Invited” is a movement which is “committed to eradicating rape culture” and describes “rape culture” as “all the ways that different forms of aggressive and violent sexual behaviour are normalised, encouraged and even admired by society”. Find out more.

Lateral flow daily contact testing paused

Following last week’s Guardian article about the concerns over lateral flow daily testing for those identified as having been a close contact of a person testing positive for Covid-19, Public Health England (PHE) and NHS Test and Trace (NHSTT) have published a position statement to recommend that daily contact testing in schools will be paused.

The lateral flow testing of university students

Guidance for students returning to, and starting higher education, in spring term 2021 requires universities to set a clear expectation that all students should access Covid-19 testing on their return to university.

View all blogs

Richard Freeth

Partner

mailing list sign up

Select which mailings you would like to receive from us.

Sign up