Education: Academy Chains
Debate between Lord Nash and Lord Whitty(10 years, 11 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Lord Whitty (Lab)
In replying to the Question, the Minister was trying to be very reassuring. Does that reassurance extend to a circumstance where a charity or an academy chain, having taken over the running of a school, then decides to dispose of property attached to it? Do the proceeds from that property go back to the school or do they accrue to the academy chain or charity?
Lord Nash
The noble Lord asks a very good question. In just about every case—if I can find other cases that are relevant to this answer, I will identify them for him—the land stays with the local authority, with a 125-year lease to the academy, so the circumstances that the noble Lord refers to are unlikely to apply. Certainly, nothing like what he mentioned could possibly happen without the consent of the Secretary of State.