MPs question DfE's ability to oversee academies

A report by the public accounts select committee has raised doubts that the DfE will have sufficient manpower to effectively oversee the growing number of academy schools.

The department is in the process of making around 1,000 civil servants redundant as it seeks to halve its administrative budget.

The committee's report recommended that the DfE clarifies the roles and responsibilities of both central and local government in relation to academies.

“Effective oversight of the academies programme is crucial as it continues to expand,” said Labour MP and committee chair Margaret Hodge.

“We have already seen some instances where public money has not been used appropriately.

“We have also commented before on the failure of too many academies to produce audited accounts on time. These signs make proper monitoring of the programme vital.

“We are sceptical that the department is up to the job as cuts are made to its staff and those of its agencies.”

The committee’s report said the DfE must demonstrate whether value for money has been achieved from the academies programme, but noted that it has yet to reveal how it will do so, or when.

It called on the DfE to set out what outcomes it aims to achieve by increasing the number of academies, and how and when it will demonstrate whether progress on that is on track.

The report added that the committee was concerned about the “inefficient” way the programme is funded – with the government having overspent on its academies programme by £1bn in the first two years.

It recommended that the department should publish data on spending by individual academy schools to increase the transparency of the system.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The committee's report makes clear that Michael Gove's haste to expand the number of academies at all costs has come at the expense of financial accountability and value for public money."