Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what the money defrauded from the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust was intended to be used; and from which school's budget that money was taken.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when her Department was first made aware of fraud within the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust; and what steps it took in response to that information.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust retains income to cover the costs of central services, which are attributable to all academies within the multi-academy trust. In 2012/13, this equated to £2.16 million.
For the years in question, the amounts defrauded from the Trust were:
2010-11 £1,047,788 (3.33% of income)
2011-12 £914,316 (1.66% of income)
2012-13 Nil
The CEO and Accounting Officer in 2010-2011 was Dr Liz Sidwell. In 2011-12 and 2012-13 it was Adrian Percival.
The funds defrauded from the Trust were intended to be used for educational purposes, in line with requirements in the funding agreement and academies financial handbook. The money was taken from the Trust’s overall budget.
The Trust notified the Department for Education of the fraud on 1 November 2012. Senior officials worked with the Trust immediately to assess its financial systems and risks. The Department has provided ongoing monitoring and support to ensure that the Trust has taken all appropriate actions.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what checks the Education Funding Agency makes on the quality of auditors and others taking professional fees for services provided to academies.
Answered by Edward Timpson
As companies and charitable trusts, academy trusts are required to appoint independent auditors to report on their financial statements. It is for the academy trust to manage the contract for their services.
Auditors are qualified accountants and regulated by their professional institutes. The institutes undertake a programme of quality assurance visits to ensure firms are operating in accordance with expected professional standards. The outcomes of these reviews are publically available.
The Education Funding Agency (EFA) supplements the various institute regulatory regimes with:
· reviews of academy trusts’ audited financial statements, the associated audit reports on these and auditor management letters. The EFA follows up significant issues with individual trusts and their auditors;
· regular attendance at sector training events and delivery of online presentations/webinars for auditors on the key issues arising from reviews, to help ensure they are aware of the requirements expected of them and key risk areas; and
· responding to auditor queries received through the academy questions mailbox.
Other professional services provided to academy trusts will also be regulated by their relevant institute body, e.g. the Law Society.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will place in the Library a copy of the service level agreement between the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust and the schools in which it operates.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Trust reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The Trust undertook a full independent review, and the EFA monitored their response. The Department for Education’s most recent discussion with the Trust has been to confirm progress with the recovery of funds and the police investigation.
The Department has not had recent discussions with the Trust’s auditors. The EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014.
The Department does not hold a copy of the service level agreement between the Federation Trust and its schools.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools have been approved by her Department which do not have identified sites; and in which local authority area each such school wishes to operate.
Answered by Edward Timpson
There are currently 174 free schools open, with applications approved for a further 156 schools that are seeking to open in 2014/15 and beyond. Of these 330 schools, 4% do not currently have a permanent site identified. None of these schools are planning to open in September 2014.
A full list of approved applications, showing the local authority, is published online:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-schools-successful-applications-and-open-schools-2014
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with (a) the Haberdashers' Aske's Federation Trust and (b) that Trust's auditors on possible fraud within the Trust.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Trust reported to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) that a theft had occurred. The Trust undertook a full independent review, and the EFA monitored their response. The Department for Education’s most recent discussion with the Trust has been to confirm progress with the recovery of funds and the police investigation.
The Department has not had recent discussions with the Trust’s auditors. The EFA reviewed the most recent audited accounts in early 2014.
The Department does not hold a copy of the service level agreement between the Federation Trust and its schools.
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much land his Department has released for the purpose of building new homes since May 2010.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The information requested is not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
There are strict rules protecting publicly funded school land. This is set out in guidance, which is published online at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/protection-of-school-playing-fields-and-public-land-advice
Asked by: Heidi Alexander (Labour - Swindon South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department collects on children missing education; what information schools are expected to record in the Lost Pupil Database, part of his Department's school2school site; and how many pupils' records were held in the Lost Pupil Database on 1 February (a) 2014, (b) 2013, (c) 2012, (d) 2011 and (e) 2010.
Answered by Elizabeth Truss
The Department for Education does not collect data on children missing education. Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 places a duty on local authorities to have arrangements that enable them to establish the identities of children in their area who are not registered pupils at a school, and are not receiving suitable education through a means other than at a school. Local authorities may decide as part of this duty to collect information on children who may be missing education or at risk of doing so. The Department's statutory guidance to local authorities advises that they must have robust procedures in place to fulfil their legal duty.
The 'lost pupils database' (LPD) records the transfer records of pupils whose correct destination is not known. Files are retained whenever a child leaves a school for a destination outside the maintained school sector. Examples of these destinations include ‘gone to an independent school', ‘gone sick', ‘moved abroad with parents' or 'moved on without reason'.
The LPD is not used by Children Missing Education (CME) officers to record CME data. The primary function of the Department's School to School (S2S) secure data transfer website is to provide schools and Local Authorities (LAs) with a mechanism for the secure and ongoing transfer of thousands of statutory child-level data files per week to new schools/LAs when children move school.
The details required for the Lost Pupil Database are:
File Name
Source school
Source LA
UPN
Surname
Forename
DOB
Gender
Former UPN
Former Surname
Middle Names
Ethnicity
FSM eligibility
In Care
Care Authority
SEN status
Start Date
Postcode
Sessions Possible
Sessions Attended
Sessions Unauthorised
First Language
LPD records are stored for a minimum of 12 months. The last ‘clear down' took place in October 2013 which means monthly additions are only held back to October 2012. At 1 February 2014, 15,128 records were held on the system. Records are not removed from the system until the general ‘clear down', so the figure does not represent pupils missing from education at any given time.