The core academy policy continues

"Small rural primary schools will be offered protection against closure in a concession to appease Tory MPs after a backlash against plans to force all schools to become academies."

"Ministers are also willing to listen to concerns among Conservative backbenchers over proposals to end the election of parents to school governing bodies. Explicit protection for village schools, probably with additional money after a national formula is introduced to fund all schools in the same way, will be accompanied by a charm offensive in the coming weeks..."

"However, there will be no reversal of the core policy of forcing all schools to become academies by 2020, or have plans to do so by 2022, which will feature in the Queen’s Speech. `We are certainly not on U-turn territory. That’s just not on the cards,` a Department for Education source said. `There is support for this across government.`"

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/primaryschools/article4733844.ece?shareToken=659951495f1dffdef3b7ba1323f8fce2

The Scottish Government appears to support free schools because it was reported on the Holyrood website on 1 February 2016 that:

Scotland’s local authorities should be broken up into smaller, more community-based units, according to former education secretary Michael Russell.

Education budgets, for example, should be controlled by individual schools... while community councils should be given more power.

https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/former-education-secretary-michael-russell-calls-break-councils

A few days later, the Scottish Government met with the Hometown Education Learning Partnership, a charity set up to assist parent groups form state-funded autonomous schools. The government had this to say about the meeting:

"Our approach to raising standards must be based on what works and we are always open to new ideas for improving our education system. Ultimately, any decision on this, or any other, proposal would be based on the needs of Scotland’s education system as a whole."

https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/3136/investigation-who-is-really-behind-the-push-for-autonomous-state-schools-in-scotland

Leaving the electorate needing clarification, as usual, but it looks like this could be the beginning of more public private partnerships.