The government has been accused of trying to rush legislation on major school reforms through Parliament ahead of the summer recess.

Critics of the Academies Bill, which would allow more schools to opt out of local authority control, have criticised the government for compressing the parliamentary process that a Bill must pass through, by taking what is known as the committee stage - where a group of MPs scrutinise a Bill - in the Commons. The process, which is usually used for anti-terror legislation and constitutional issues, would enable the Bill to become law within just one week.

MPs are due to begin their summer recess on July 27 and it is thought that ministers want to get the Bill passed before the break so that some schools can becomes academies in September.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has rejected claims that the Bill is being rushed through Parliament, telling the BBC's Today programme that there had been extensive debate on the issue over the past five years, as well as during the general election campaign and stressed that there would be ample time for scrutiny of the Bill.

Mr Gove's comments came as hundreds of teachers held a protest at Parliament over the decision to axe the Building Schools for the Future programme. More than 700 projects have been halted, following Mr Gove's announcement two weeks ago that the programme was being scrapped.

The Education Secretary was also forced to issue an apology after it emerged that an initial list of BSF projects contained a number of mistakes, which meant that many schools that believed their projects were safe later discovered that their projects would be shelved.

(KMcA/GK)