Commenting on the Public Accounts Committee report on the
University Technical College (UTC) programme, Nansi
Ellis, Assistant General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
"This report vindicates the NEU’s longstanding concerns
about UTCs. Significant resources have been ploughed into the
programme despite serious flaws in the model and its poor
record.
"The UTC model is clearly unsustainable. The Public
Accounts Committee report shows ten institutions have closed and
those that remain open are operating at 45% capacity on
average.
"The Government has propped up this financial black hole
for too long. Most of the additional £36.8 million Government
paid between 2015–16 and 2018–19 will not be paid back.
"At the same time, public money has been syphoned off into
the hands of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, the private
trust which owns the UTC brand. The report finds that the
Government paid £893,000 to the Trust between 2012/13 and 2017/18
to support sponsors planning to open new UTCs. Each UTC also pays
an annual licence fee to the Trust. The Trust increased this fee
from £5,500 to £10,000 in 2019/20 – yet the Public Accounts
Committee says that that the DfE could not even tell them what
schools get in return.
"It is simply wrong that a private trust has received
substantial amounts of public money for what is apparently no
discernible benefit. These financial arrangements with the Trust
should be cancelled immediately.
"Given the scale of financial and political support
provided to UTCs by the Government since 2010, it is quite
incredible that, according to PAC, the Department for Education
has not been able to offer a distinction between UTCs and
secondary schools in terms of what success looks like.
"The NEU has always maintained that the UTC model was
poorly conceived and would not be sustainable, and this has now
been proven to be the case. For many the damage is done - not
just a loss of taxpayers' money, but disruption to education
where UTCs closed.
"It is now time to abandon the UTC model altogether,
ensuring that no further UTCs can open. Rather than look solely
towards academy sponsorship, a serious plan for incorporating the
existing institutions into their local family of schools needs to
be developed."
