5 Sep 2011

Clegg promises free schools ‘not for profit’

Free schools will never be run with the motive of making a profit, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg promises, as many of the new schools prepare to open their doors.

Nick Clegg is hoping to reassure Liberal Democrat sceptics that the new type of school will improve social mobility.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he would “never tolerate” free schools becoming the “preserve of the privileged few”, as the first groups of free schools start to open.

Free schools are seen as a Conservative-led policy within the coalition government, after the Lib Dem faithful voted against them at their party conference last year over fears they could be divisive.

No to running schools for profit, not in our state-funded education sector. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg

Mr Clegg admitted that the programme – in which groups of parents, charities, or any other organisation can bid to open schools – is “controversial” but he will say he believes the policy will make the system fairer.

“I am confident we have mitigated those risks to make sure this is now a policy which will promote higher standards, better integration and fairer chances especially for children from the most deprived backgrounds,” Mr Clegg said.

“They must not be the preserve of the privileged few – creaming off the best pupils while leaving the rest to fend for themselves, causing problems for and draining resources from other nearby schools. So let me give you my reassurance – I would never tolerate that.”

Read more from FactCheck on free schools: will they serve the deprived masses?

No profit motive

In a speech this morning, Mr Clegg said that free schools will be incentivised to attract under-privileged pupils and set up in areas of high deprivation or with shortages of places.

The first 24 free schools are planning to open in the next month. The Department for Education said 15 of them are oversubscribed for their first year, and around half are in some of the UK’s most deprived areas.

Mr Clegg also said that the reform is not a move to a “profit motive” in schooling.

“To anyone who is worried that, by expanding the mix of providers in our education system, we are inching towards inserting the profit motive into our school system, again, let me reassure you: yes to greater diversity; yes to more choice for parents.

“But no to running schools for profit, not in our state-funded education sector.”

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