Commenting on Academy accounts and performance, the
report of the Commons Public Accounts Committee
(PAC), Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of
the National Education Union, said:
“This report provides deeply uncomfortable reading for . The report lays bare the many
ways in which parents, staff and local communities are being
ignored or side-lined by academy trusts. It highlights the need
for Ofsted to report on the impact of funding cuts on the quality
of education in schools. Alarmingly, the report also points to
the Department for Education’s failure to provide assurances on
the management of asbestos in schools.
“The academies programme has drastically reduced transparency and
accountability of schools, with parents having little say or
access to information about how academies are run. The DfE is
unable to confirm that ‘appropriate’ arrangements for complaints
are in place in all academy trusts. On top of which, Regional
Schools Commissioners are not responsive to parents and are
failing to intervene even when alerted to serious problems. This
is completely unacceptable, and flies in the face of assurances
back in 2014 that RSCs would provide oversight and scrutiny.
Eyewatering sums of taxpayers’ money have been spent getting us
to this sorry place.
“Oversight and intervention is sorely lacking at the DfE, too.
Scandals such as Whitehaven Academy are a direct consequence of
Government failures to act. And delays in investigating Wakefield
City Academies Trust are a clear sign that the Education and
Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is not fit for purpose. From
executive pay packets to related party transactions, they are
failing to prevent abuse.
“This report is absolutely damning for both the DfE and the ESFA.
One senses a growing irritation in the PAC that the DfE is not
responding to their demands for greater transparency for
academies. The problem for the DfE and the ESFA is that they have
neither the resources nor the legal means to achieve greater
transparency because of the haste and inadequacies of ’s 2010 Academies Act.
“This absolutely damning report shows the need to restore local
accountability and democratic governance to all schools. The NEU
believes this can best be done by ensuring that all schools are
overseen by local authorities.
“We agree with the PAC’s recommendation that, whilst academy
trusts still exist they should be required to make available
financial information at school level; that there should be
sanctions with teeth to deter, punish and prevent malpractice
among academy trustees; that all academy trusts must publish
complaints procedures with named individuals to whom parents can
escalate concerns; and that the Department and ESFA should
publish reports into trust abuses in a timely and transparent
manner. These are all demands that the NEU has been making for
some time. We would further add that related party transactions
should be banned once and for all. No trustee should be allowed
to profit from their involvement in running state schools.
“We agree with PAC that Ofsted should examine and report on
whether the quality of education and the outcomes schools achieve
are being adversely affected by the need to make savings. It
beggars belief that the HMCI told the PAC that Ofsted inspectors
were not seeing an impact of funding cuts on educational
standards. They cannot possibly have been asking the right
questions. Our members tell us that teachers and support staff
are being cut, the curriculum is being narrowed, there are
insufficient resources in schools and, most alarmingly, that the
education of children with SEND is being disproportionately
impacted by funding shortfalls.
“The NEU also shares PAC’s concerns about asbestos management in
schools. Failure to provide the DfE with information about
management of asbestos in schools is putting lives at risk.
These delays show that academy trusts and local authorities who
bear overall responsibility for health and safety in schools are
not facing up to their legal responsibilities.”
