Commenting on the report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
into converting schools to academies, Dr Mary Bousted, joint
general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said:
“The NEU welcomes this report from the Public Accounts Committee,
and agrees with its recommendations. The report it is a
damning indictment of the Department for Education’s flagship
education policy, pursued since 2010 under both the Coalition and
Conservative Governments, and the failures identified cannot be
resolved by tinkering with an academy system which is inherently
flawed, unaccountable and causing serious damage to England’s
education system.
“The scale of academy trust failures has been shocking and the
PAC is right to highlight that children’s education has paid the
heaviest price, along with taxpayers who have had to pick up the
significant costs of academy re-brokering. It is also good that
the PAC has raised the lack of transparency for parents in
academies.
“The NEU believe that academies should be required to cooperate
with local councils on school place planning and admissions and
the DfE should ensure this takes place. We agree with the
suggestion that the DfE should contribute to the costs which
local authorities incur when schools become academies - sums for
which they are largely not reimbursed - and reduces the services
and support councils can continue to offer to maintained
schools.”
