Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria (a) his Department and the Education and (b) the Skills Funding Agency use to assess the allocation of funding to academy trusts to protect the provision of education.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has a robust intervention strategy that fits within the overall academy accountability framework. Intervention is always proportionate, risk-based and built on funding agreement and academies financial handbook non-compliance.

Where the ESFA intervenes, we work with each trust to put in place a recovery process that underpins education provision with strong financial management and oversight. This can include the provision of funding, issuing a Financial Notice to Improve or, in the most serious cases, termination of the Funding Agreement.

Where the provision of funding is considered, this will be done on a case-by case basis, as part of our intervention with the trust.