Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure academy trusts are subject to local accountability by parents and communities in instances where school policies and complaints procedures fail to resolve concerns.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Academies are required to have a complaints procedure in place that adheres to Part 7 of the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014. Where parents or carers have concerns, they should first approach the academy, and it is their responsibility to handle and resolve complaints. If a complainant has concerns that an academy did not handle a complaint in line with the regulations, they can then escalate to the department, whose role it is to consider whether the academy followed the correct process.
For members of the wider community who do not have a child at the academy, the regulations do not apply. However, the department still expects academies to handle complaints swiftly and respectfully.
My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education holds academies to a high level of accountability through their funding agreement. Where wider concerns are raised, for example, as a result of poor governance or lack of compliance with the framework, the department will intervene proportionately to ensure compliance.
As part of the King’s Speech, we have committed to legislate to require all schools, including academies, to cooperate with the local authority on school admissions and place planning, and to give local authorities greater powers to deliver their function and ensure that admissions decisions account for the needs of the community.
Asked by: Ian Sollom (Liberal Democrat - St Neots and Mid Cambridgeshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of delaying the outcome of her short review of post-16 qualification reforms until December 2024 on (a) schools’ ability to provide effective information and (b) plan for the 2025/26 academic year.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In July, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, announced a short review of qualifications reform. The rapid review is focused on Level 3 qualifications currently scheduled to have funding removed on 31 July 2025.
The department understands the need to provide certainty to the sector, students and parents about what qualifications will be available in the 2025/26 academic year.
The department is working as quickly as possible to provide clarity to the sector, which is why we moved immediately to pause the defunding due to happen from August this year and will conclude and communicate outcomes of the review by the end of the calendar year. This will enable schools and colleges to reflect the outcomes of the review in their delivery planning and marketing materials in the new year.
It is also worth noting that large portions of qualifications are unaffected by the review and provide certainty to the sector. These include A levels and T Levels, new alternative academic qualifications, new technical occupational qualifications, and the qualifications in the subjects, routes and qualification types not covered by the defunding lists, including further applied general qualifications.