Academy safeguarding confusion risks pupil welfare, MPs warn
Laura McCardle
Friday, January 30, 2015
Pupil safety is being put at risk due to confusion over safeguarding arrangements for academies, MPs have warned.
Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are responsible for monitoring safeguarding arrangements for children in all schools, including academies, but an inquiry by the public accounts committee suggests that the Department for Education’s (DfE) increasing focus on autonomy is confusing the issue.
In its Schools Oversight and Intervention inquiry report, the committee cites a National Audit Office survey which found that, out of 87 local authorities, 13 said they did not monitor academies’ safeguarding arrangements.
A further 13 said they would not intervene directly in an academy if they had concerns about pupil safety.
The committee also found that confusion over the respective roles of councils and regional school commissioners is causing “significant gaps” in the DfE’s knowledge of the performance of individual schools.
It has warned that the gaps, together with “weak” oversight arrangements, can mask problems – like those found during the Trojan Horse inquiry into allegations of extremism in schools in Birmingham last year – until “serious damage” has been done.
The findings of the committee echo those of an education select committee inquiry into academies and free schools, which urged the DfE to clarify the roles of councils in relation to oversight.
Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, said the DfE must clarify the responsibilities of all agencies involved in monitoring academies’ safeguarding arrangements.
“The DfE has focused on increasing schools’ autonomy but it has done so without a proper strategy for overseeing the system,” she said.
“Its light-touch approach means that problems in some schools can go undetected until serious damage has been done.
“We hope that the department will respond to our recommendations fully in order to reduce the likelihood of further unforeseen school scandals, like the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham.”
A spokeswoman for the DfE rejected the findings of the report.
She said: “We have already intervened in more than 1,000 schools over the past four years, pairing them up with excellent sponsors to give pupils the best chances.”
“That compares with the years and even decades of neglect many schools suffered under local authority control.
“There are 41 local authority schools that have been in special measures for more than 18 months, compared to just nine academies – in fact, 54 local authorities have never issued any warning notices to schools that are letting pupils down.”