To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many requests to open new grammar schools were received from each local authority in each year since 1997; what approval is needed from his Department to open a new grammar school; and if he will make a statement. (175148)

Since September 1999 one new school, in Buckinghamshire, has been designated as a grammar school. The school opened in September 1999 and was established in substitution for a closing grammar school. Information held on proposals to establish new schools made prior to September 1999 is not reliable and has therefore not been included.

Section 104 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 provides that no new additional grammar schools may be established. There are 164 designated grammar schools, and this number has remained constant since 1999. Section 104 provides that a new school may be designated as a grammar school only if it is established in substitution for a closing grammar school or schools.