Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing schools currently managed by multi-academy trusts to return to local education authority control.

My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has been clear that there are no immediate plans to develop options that will enable academy schools to convert to local authority-maintained status.

The department’s priority is to ensure that all children receive the best possible education. Where the existing leadership of a school does not have the capacity to improve an underperforming school we will continue to intervene structurally. We are also strengthening our tools for school improvement through regional improvement for standards and excellence teams, who will provide mandatory, targeted intervention to drive improvements for schools.