AN East Lancashire teaching union rep has criticised the government for spending £1m on proposals for free schools that never opened.

Simon Jones, who represents the regions’ members of the National Union of Teachers, said the figure represented an ‘utter waste’ of public money.

He said: “That £1 million has been spent on free schools that never opened comes as no surprise to the NUT, given the lack of transparency over the approval process.

“Providers are still being approved to open schools where there is no need for places and where there is doubt, to say the least, about their fitness to run a state funded school.

“Many are failing to provide an acceptable standard of education while others have been mired in financial and governance scandals.

“At a time when local authorities are struggling to provide sufficient school places and schools across the country having to increase their class sizes or put portacabins in their playgrounds, the misspending on this pet project is impossible to justify.

“It is time to end this failing approach to the provision of new schools.

“No new free schools should be approved and those that already exist need to be brought within the oversight of the local authority family of schools.”