Labour conference: Councils should get academy intervention powers, says Powell

Giving the final keynote speech at the party’s annual conference in Brighton this week, Powell said if Labour formed the next government councils would be allowed to open new schools and expand existing ones to create more pupil places and address the current shortage in some parts of the country.

She said: “Local authorities will be given the authority to ensure sufficient places and standards and intervene in any school that is failing.

“No wonder there is a school places crisis when councils neither have the authority nor means to open or expand schools – this we will change.”

Powell, who was shadow childcare minister between 2013 and 2014, also said councils would be given the authority to intervene in academies and academy chains that are found to be failing or performing poorly. Currently, local authorities have no powers to compel struggling academies to engage over improvement.

In addition, the Manchester Central MP said the party would end the government's free school programme, a policy that was in its 2015 election manifesto.

“Academisation brought much needed investment but it was never about turning all schools into academies," she said.

“The government sees academisation as a silver bullet to school improvement, but they are wrong. There is no evidence that academisation leads to school improvement.

“We need to move the debate on from structures to drive up standards and raise aspirations and equipping young people with the right skills for the future.”

Powell welcomed the government’s commitment earlier this week to retain free school meals for all infant-aged school pupils, following rumours that the policy could be scrapped in November’s Spending Review.

However, she warned that this could have consequences on the wider education budget.

“This will put further pressure on early years and post-16 education funding,” she added.