Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to engage with parents and staff at the University Academy, Liverpool, in relation to improving standards.

The responsibility for engaging with parents and staff on improving standards in underperforming academies lies with the sponsor or trust.

The Department for Education will intervene in cases where we are concerned that sponsors are not bringing about rapid, sustained educational improvements.

In the case of the University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT), which is the sponsor of the University Academy Liverpool (UAL), the Department has already intervened. Officials have been closely monitoring the performance of the sponsor since the publication of examination results in 2013. In April 2014, my noble Friend Lord Nash issued UCAT with a pre-warning notice letter as a result of our overall concerns about the performance of the Trust and our particular concerns about three of its academies, including UAL. The Trust has responded with an action plan to address these issues.

We do not tolerate underperformance. Where an academy is not making urgent sustained progress, we will work closely with the school and sponsor to secure whatever changes are necessary to make improvements. This might include a change of leadership, or a new partnership with a successful strong academy, sponsor or school.

We continue to monitor the situation at UAL closely against its action plan and will not hesitate to intervene further at both school and Trust level if results in 2014 do not improve.