Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of academy chains that have (a) gone into administration and (b) collapsed in each year since 2010.

Our latest records show that no academy trust has gone into administration. Where there is a risk to public funds, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will intervene in a proportionate manner to avoid financial issues affecting school provision.

The ESFA has a robust intervention strategy to support an academy trust, which is a company limited by guarantee and subject to company law, to reach a stronger financial position. Intervention actions range from supporting and building trust capacity through to issuing a Financial Notice to Improve, or in the most serious cases, terminating a funding agreement, after schools have been transferred to another trust.