Victoria McNish looks into the Government's recent selective schools funding announcement. 

The Prime Minister has made the somewhat bold decision to again push forward her grammar schools agenda. Despite her predecessor’s refusal to give into backbench pressure and revisit the idea of opening new grammars, Theresa May has long been clear that she sees them as key to improving choice, raising standards, and tackling disadvantage in the education system.

May had committed to opening new grammars in her General Election manifesto last year, but after losing her majority shied away from reversing Tony Blair’s two decade old ban. Now, despite the relative silence surrounding the grammar schools debate of late, it has all been brought up again with the new Education Secretary Damian Hinds unveiling a £50 million “Selective Schools Fund” to expand 163 existing selective schools.

Though considerably scaled-back, the move is nevertheless confronted by a political minefield – particularly given May’s lack of a parliamentary majority, and the opposition she faces from within her own party.

There’s also a risk that many won’t see it as a watered-down version of the reforms. The £50 million fund may allow for existing grammars to set up new campuses as part their expansions. Press reports were quick to pick up on stories of schools opening new campuses up to 10 miles away from their original site, which will do little to convince May’s opponents that this isn’t just new grammar schools by the back door.

Unsurprisingly Labour was quick to criticise the move, claiming that the Government is “pursuing its own vanity projects” at the expense of comprehensive schools. The National Association of Head Teachers argued there was no evidence of educational benefit, slamming the policy as “elitist” and “misguided”. Rejecting claims of a ‘new dawn for grammars’ the National Education Union declared that “the grammar school corpse has climbed out of its coffin once again”.

The Department for Education said the move would give parents more choice, and confirmed that the grammars bidding for the expansion money must be able to prove that they are taking action to increase admissions of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Yet this won’t necessarily be enough to quiet opposition from across the House of Commons.

The announcement was made in the Government’s long-awaited response to the consultation on its 2016 “Schools that Work for Everyone” Green Paper. The response made clear that the Government has no plans to bring forward an education bill, and that the legislation banning the creation of new selective schools will remain in place.

This announcement does, however, raise questions about what the Government’s education agenda will be going forward. The focus on grammar schools is a move away from speculation that the Education Secretary would lift the cap on faith-based admissions to free schools, which the Government recently decided not to go ahead with. Whether Damian Hinds is really getting behind May’s grammar schools agenda – or whether this was a one-off measure to allow him to shift focus elsewhere – remains unclear.