BHA concludes: no legal recourse to obtain names of Free School applicants from DfE in a timely manner leaves huge democratic deficit

27 January, 2014

The British Humanist Association (BHA) is disappointed to announce that it believes there is no legal recourse in compelling the Department for Education (DfE) to make public who is applying to set up Free Schools prior to the DfE deciding which ones it wishes to back. In spite of the fact that the Information Tribunal ruled that the DfE must provide this information in response to freedom of information (FOI) requests, and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) subsequently reaffirmed that ruling, it appears that there is nothing to stop the Government from throwing up spurious objections each year until after it has made its decision. The BHA has expressed its frustration at the situation.

In 2013 the BHA won a victory at the Tribunal that established not only that the DfE must publish the names and religions of Free School applicants that have been unsuccessful (something it previously didn’t do), but that all names must be provided at a formative stage, prior to it deciding which it wants to back to open. This would match the transparency of the process by which schools opened before the 2011 introduction of the Free Schools programme.

However, when the BHA tried to apply this victory with respect to the next year of proposals (those opening from 2014), the DfE again rejected its FOI request, coming up with new reasons to delay until after it had decided which to back to open (and subsequently announced the unsuccessful applicants). The ICO again ruled that the DfE had got things wrong, but by this point the ruling was of no consequence.

When it came to proposals opening for 2015, the DfE again came up with spurious reasons to reject the FOI request. The ICO agreed to expedite the case, given its similarity to the previous two, but last week’s announcement of Free School proposals means that once more this information has failed to come soon enough. The ICO has confirmed to the BHA that there is nothing it can do to prevent the DfE from coming up with new spurious objections each year, and so it is therefore not possible to use freedom of information laws to obtain this information in a timely enough manner.

The BHA has been fighting for the release of names of Free School proposals information for almost three years now. BHA Education Campaigner Richy Thompson commented, ‘It is hugely disappointing that the Government is able to ignore precedent and abuse the length of the freedom of information process to continue to refuse to provide names of Free School proposers prior to deciding which it wants to back to open. This represents a serious democratic deficit, denying the public the option to say “no” to a proposal until well after the Government has decided which proposals it wants to open and has invested significant time and resources into seeing it happen.

‘We are drawing attention to this fact in the hope that pressure can be put on the Government to review its policy and increase transparency, creating a situation akin to how things were before Free Schools were introduced.’

Notes

For further comment or information, please contact Richy Thompson on 020 7324 3072.

Read about the 2013 Information Tribunal decision: https://humanists.uk/2013/01/15/landmark-freedom-of-information-victory-for-bha-vs-department-for-education/

And the 2013 ICO decision: https://humanists.uk/2013/08/14/information-commissioner-rules-dfe-was-wrong-to-withhold-list-of-proposed-free-schools-from-bha/

Read the BHA’s response to last week’s announcement of more Free School proposals: https://humanists.uk/2014/01/23/religious-free-schools-announced/

Read more about the BHA’s campaigns work on ‘faith’ schools: https://humanists.uk/campaigns/religion-and-schools/faith-schools

View the BHA’s table of types of school with a religious character: https://humanists.uk/wp-content/uploads/schools-with-a-religious-character.pdf

The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It promotes a secular state and equal treatment in law and policy of everyone, regardless of religion or belief.