Education Secretary Michael Gove has outlined details of his plans to grant state schools more independence.

The newly named Department for Education says it wants to "cut red tape" and allow primary and secondary schools the same freedoms as academies.

It comes the day after two education Bills, which will pave the way for "free schools" - a key plank of the Tories plans for education reform, were announced in the Queen's Speech.

The first of those, the Academies Bill, will allow schools to opt out of local authority control, and apply directly to the Education Secretary for academy status.

Schools rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted, around 600 secondaries and about 2,000 primaries, will be "pre-approved", effectively meaning their applications are fast-tracked.

On the plans, Former Education Secretary Ed Balls predicted a "two tier" and "deeply unfair" system as a result of fast tracking academy status for the highest performing schools and allowing free schools: "The price for that will be paid by cancelling new school buildings, taking money, teachers, away from existing schools, often in more disadvantaged communities."