A free school is legally an academy. The Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove)’s powers to intervene in an underperforming academy or a free school are specified in the funding agreement between the Secretary of State and the academy trust. Closing a school would involve terminating the funding agreement between the Secretary of State and the academy trust, without contracting with another party to run the school. Free school and academy funding agreements are published on the Department for Education's website as a matter of course once the school has opened.