There is no doubt that there were very best of intentions behind the free schools programme to set up education establishments outside the control of local councils and education authorities, but even its most ardent defender would struggle to say they have been an unqualified success.

In Bradford, we have seen issues relating to Kings Science Academy in Bradford, which are still ongoing, as well as problems with the original opening date of the One in a Million free school in September 2012.

Now a cross-party group of MPs has raised a number of concerns. Chief among them, says the Commons Public Accounts Committee, is that the Government has no clear view on how our money is being spent on the setting up and the running of these free schools.

According to the report, fewer than half of the free schools set up submitted their financial accounts on time, as they are required to.

This is clearly unacceptable. If we are all going to contribute to the free school programme through the public purse, then these schools must be kept on a much tighter rein.

Many were set up very quickly in a short space of time, and while the Government hailed this as demonstrating their success, it now seems that haste may have been at the root of a number of the issues which have raised concerns.

There needs to be transparency on how much money is being spent on these schools and what that money is being spent on, and assurances need to be made that these schools are doing the job they were set up to do.

If free schools are to work, then they must be subjected to rigorous checks and balances both before and during the initial set up period, and be properly accountable in the same way as local authority schools are.