Academies Bill [Lords]

I have already given way twice. Over £1 million has been committed in Sefton in progressing its Building Schools for the Future projects and £161 million nationally—money that can not now be recovered and hardly the way to cut the deficit. Free schools will be funded in other ways. With cuts in the area-based grant, the Nurture Base in Sefton will close, although it provides 10 places for children aged between four and seven, so that they can receive the support that children with behavioural difficulties need to return to mainstream school. That is part of a £2.5 million cut in Sefton that will allow outstanding schools to become academies. There is no provision in the legislation for behavioural support of the kind available in Sefton, but that is now being cut. Another way in which the academies and free schools are being funded is from the primary capital programme, which is under review and clearly headed for a cut.