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Free Schools: Walsall

Asked by Valerie VazLabourDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 2 February 2026UIN 109084

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2026 to Question 99790 on Free Schools, how much funding her Department has provided to Swift Academy in each financial year since 2016-17.

Answered by Josh MacAlister

The department provides and retains responsibility for capital funding for the acquisition of sites/land and construction of free schools. A site has not yet been acquired for this project. When a site is secured, details and costs of the acquisition will be set out on the Land Registry website. We also publish details and costs for all free school construction contracts on Contracts Finder.

The department also provides revenue funding (via project development grants) directly to proposers to cover essential non-capital costs prior to each school opening. A one-off project development grant of £30,000 was paid to the trust in July 2017 following the approval of the project.

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