'We prioritise securing value for money' - Department for Education breaks silence over Walsall free school following criticism
The Department for Education (DfE) has defended its free school project in Walsall following criticism from the local MP.
Walsall and Bloxwich MP Valerie Vaz previously said the scheme ‘smacks of the covid VIP lane’.
The government department had until now refused to answer questions when approached by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
The proposed new secondary school in Walsall was approved by the DfE in 2017, and the Windsor Academy Trust was chosen to deliver it.
Currently, Reedswood Park in Walsall is the preferred site for £50m investment, which is expected to provide over a thousand secondary and sixth form places.
Speaking at Westminster last month, Ms Vaz said: “A priority education investment area, an arm’s length body, was set up in 2022. It is not clear who chose the board or to whom the board was accountable.
“What is even worse is that a member of the trust tasked with delivering the school was a member of the now-disbanded board. I am sure you will agree, Sir John, that this smacks of the covid VIP lane.”
The DfE has now stated that the Windsor Academy Trust successfully applied to open the new school, and said the education investment area board ‘has no involvement with free school delivery’.
A spokesperson said: “Swift Academy, originally approved as Blakenall Free School in April 2017, was established through a rigorous and well-established free school application process.
“This process is designed to ensure no trust is given preferential treatment. Applications are assessed against published selection criteria and geographical context, with ministers taking final decisions on which will progress.
“The board has no involvement with free school assessment or delivery. The free school was approved in 2017, before the current CEO was appointed in 2022 and the board was put in place from September 2022.”
Ms Vaz also said there is ‘no case’ for the new £50m school based on pupil numbers, as others in Walsall are ‘crying out for funding’.
She said: “If other schools in the area say there is no need for a secondary school, and if the figures do not show a need for one—certainly not in the proposed area, which is wholly unsuitable—why is an arm’s length body not listening to headteachers, governors or me, as the area’s elected representative?
“Is it right that officials and arm’s length bodies are driving this project against government policy and then asking the Secretary of State to rubber-stamp it?”
The DfE spokesperson said: “We prioritise securing value for money when looking for sites for free schools, that are within the area of need for school places.
“A detailed assessment of the capital budget required for each free school project is carried out before construction contracts are signed.”
A spokesperson for the Windsor Academy Trust said: “The application process for a proposed new secondary school in Walsall has been conducted in strict compliance with all Department for Education guidance, a commitment we have maintained since the initial stages in 2017.”
