Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they have retained the right to consultation for foundation and voluntary schools that are subject to academy orders as a result of low education standards.

The Education and Adoption Bill does not retain the requirement for consultation about whether a school should become an academy for foundation and voluntary schools that have a foundation and are subject to Academy orders as a result of having been judged Inadequate by Ofsted. We are, however, requiring that for such foundation and voluntary schools the Secretary of State must consult on who she proposes should run the academy. This consultation must be with the trustees of the school, the foundation and, where the school has a religious character, the appropriate religious body.

For schools that have failed and been judged Inadequate by Ofsted, there should be no debate about whether transformation via academy conversion is needed and urgent action is required. But we also accept the importance of protecting the ethos of schools, and recognise that this is particularly important where the school has a religious character. We anticipate that all those concerned with foundation and voluntary schools, in particular Dioceses, will work closely with Regional Schools Commissioners to agree the best academy solutions for any of their schools that are failing.