Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the central costs of academy trusts on the budgets of academy schools.

The primary responsibility for the financial oversight of academy trusts rests with the trustees themselves, who are supported by the financial management and governance requirements set by the department in academy trusts’ funding agreements, the academy trust handbook and academies accounts direction. The department expects academy trustees to deliver strong governance and monitor the financial health of their trust or school. It is with strong financial management and governance that schools are able to operate most effectively and deliver high quality teaching and learning that prepares our children for the future.

Academy trusts can take a cut from their funding to pay for central services for their schools. This can be more efficient and cheaper than individual schools running or procuring the functions themselves.

Where academy trusts take a cut to pay for central services, they must be transparent by disclosing the basis and value in their published, audited, annual accounts. They must also include additional disclosures in their accounts about the services they deliver centrally and the charging policy they apply. They must also identify the share against each academy.

The government is clear that strong accountability is non-negotiable. That is why the government has committed to bring multi-academy trusts into the inspection system, to make the system fairer and more transparent, and to enable intervention when schools and trusts are not performing to the required standards.