Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they have taken during the last 12 months in respect of the Perry Beeches academy chain.

During the last 12 months the Education Funding Agency (EFA) has investigated Perry Beeches The Academy Trust and found serious weaknesses in financial management and governance. The investigations resulted in the EFA issuing the trust with a Financial Notice to Improve (FNtI) on 8 March 2016, which is attached and can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-notice-to-improve-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust

The EFA also published two investigation reports into the trust which are published on GOV.UK. The first report, ‘Financial management and governance review: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-management-and-governance-review-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust.

The second report, ‘Investigation report: Perry Beeches The Academy Trust.’ is attached and can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investigation-report-perry-beeches-the-academy-trust

We will continue to monitor the trust’s progress towards meeting the requirements set out in the FNtI and if we do not see significant improvement we will not hesitate to take further action. This is one of the key strengths of free schools and academies – when we spot failure we can take far swifter action than would happen in other schools.

Perry Beeches IV (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2014) and Perry Beeches V (an all through free school, for children aged 4-19 years, which opened in September 2015) have received routine visits from Department for Education advisers to monitor educational performance and provide support. Perry Beeches III (a secondary free school, for children aged 11-19 years, which opened in September 2013) has received more extensive education adviser support because it was placed in special measures in May 2015.