When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust. In some circumstances, where the school governors or supporting foundation already hold the freehold, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, may allow publicly-funded school land to be transferred to an academy trust, which will have satisfied the Secretary of State as to its ability to operate a state-funded school.<\/p>
<\/p>
There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available online:<\/p>
www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice<\/a><\/p> <\/p> A copy of the guidance has been placed in the House Library.<\/p> <\/p> The Department does not hold information about the average value of land used for academies on a freehold or leasehold basis. Information about the number of academies that occupy land on a leasehold and freehold basis is not held centrally.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1605", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Edward Timpson"}
}
, "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Crewe and Nantwich"}
, "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Mr Edward Timpson"}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2014-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "201052"}
, {"_value" : "201053"}
, {"_value" : "201072"}
], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2014-06-23T16:01:26.7617371Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"}
, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"}
, "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"}
, "date" : {"_value" : "2014-06-17", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Academies: Land"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his policy is on the question of who retains ownership of the land in cases where freehold interest in local authority land is granted to an academy trust.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4122", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Alex Cunningham"}
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, "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Stockton North"}
, "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Alex Cunningham"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/62262", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"}
], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/62262/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : " When community schools convert to academies, the freehold is retained by the local authority and a lease is granted to the academy trust. In some circumstances, where the school governors or supporting foundation already hold the freehold, my Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, may allow publicly-funded school land to be transferred to an academy trust, which will have satisfied the Secretary of State as to its ability to operate a state-funded school.<\/p> <\/p> There are strict rules protecting publicly funded land used by academies, regardless of who holds the freehold. This is set out in published guidance, which is available online:<\/p>