Schools Minister (): Today my Noble Friend, the
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System and
Student Finance (), has made the following
statement.
Today, 6 July, the Department for Education has published the
guidance document, “Commissioning High-Quality Trusts: How the
Department for Education’s Regions Group takes decisions about
the creation, consolidation and growth of academy trusts”.
The guidance will improve the consistency and transparency with
which the Department works with the sector. It delivers the
commitment made in the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning
Review to publish clearer, consolidated commissioning guidance,
along with finalised descriptions of trust quality.
“Commissioning High-Quality Trusts” sets out how the Department
for Education’s Regions Group will take decisions about academy
trust creation, consolidation, and growth. The guidance responds
directly to calls from the sector, heard through the Academies
Regulatory and Commissioning Review, for more transparency about
how the department commissions trusts, including the evidence
that informs decisions. The approach outlined in the guidance
makes clear that the department will prioritise the quality of
education offered by trusts, whilst also reflecting the
priorities and needs of the local area.
The guidance will encourage and support trusts to direct their
own self-improvement activity. This supports our objective to
grow capacity, capability, and choice across the system so that
each school can be matched with the right high-quality trust to
support the needs of its pupils and students.
The guidance consolidates existing documents relating to
commissioning, so trust and school leaders will be able to
understand the Department’s strategic approach to commissioning
and the key processes more easily.
