§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many applications his Department has received from religious schools requesting Government funding in the last 12 months; when he received a request from the Islamia Schools Trust for grant-maintained status; and if he will make a statement. [6582]
§ Mr. ByersIn the last 12 months, fourteen applications have been received from independent religious schools to enter the maintained sector of education—twelve to become grant-maintained (GM) schools, and two to become voluntary aided (VA). Of these, five GM proposals and one VA proposal have been approved, and one GM proposal has been rejected. The remaining seven proposals are under consideration. The proposal from the Islamia Schools Trust was published on 9 January 1997. We shall be making a decision on this and the other proposals as soon as we can.