To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what protection exists for pupils deemed suitable for an academic grammar school course when the grammar school of the parents' choice declines to enrol the child.

Under the arrangements for transfer from primary to secondary education pupils are not deemed suitable or unsuitable for any type of school. All schools are required to admit pupils up to an approved admissions number and within an overall enrolment number. If a school is oversubscribed it must apply its admissions criteria to select which pupils should be admitted. If the parents of a child who has been refused a place in the school of their choice think the school has not applied its admissions criteria properly they can appeal to an independent statutory appeals tribunal.

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Department of Education for Northern Ireland can ensure that a transferring pupil from primary school deemed suitable for a grammar school