Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether West Midlands Police were contacted on the issuing of so-called comfort letters to anyone suspected of involvement in the Birmingham Pub Bombings.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
I am not aware of any contact with West Midlands Police by my Department prior to the issuing of any letters to individuals involved in the on-the-runs administrative scheme.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if she will publish witness statements given to the Downey trial.
Answered by Theresa Villiers
This is a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will take steps to remove any contractual gagging orders or similar measures applicable to staff in the West Midlands involved in the ongoing investigation into school governance in that area led by Ian Kershaw.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department for Education hopes that any individual with relevant information about the serious allegations made in relation to a number of schools in Birmingham will come forward and share this with the Education Commissioner, Peter Clarke, and Ian Kershaw, the Chief Adviser for Birmingham City Council's investigation.
Amendments to The Employment Relations Act 1996, introduced by the Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998, mean that any confidentiality clauses in settlement agreements cannot have the effect of preventing a protected disclosure and any provision will be void to the extent it seeks to do so. The Department revised the model settlement agreements for new academies in January to make this absolutely clear. The PIDA Act 1998 also introduced provisions to protect workers from detrimental treatment or victimisation from their employer if, in the public interest, they blow the whistle on wrongdoing.
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will direct the Park View Educational Trust to disclose the sources of other income, donations or fundraisers as identified in their accounts.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Under the terms of their funding agreements with my Rt. Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, all academy trusts are required to prepare annual financial statements in accordance with company, charity and public accountability requirements. Academy trusts are required to have their financial statements audited by a registered auditor, including the regularity of income and expenditure. Disclosure requirements are set out in the Academies Accounts Direction, which is available at:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-accounts-direction-2013
Asked by: Khalid Mahmood (Labour - Birmingham, Perry Barr)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons eight of the 13 governors from Park View Academy resigned within five months of its transfer to academy status.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Governors may resign at any time for their own reasons; they do not need to tell the Department for Education or their fellow governors why.
The Department's preference is for small and manageable, skill-based strategic governing bodies as these are more effective, and it will normally recommend this when an academy trust is first formed. The governance arrangements for an academy trust are set out in its articles of association.
Park View Educational Trust has told the Department that there was a need to rationalise the governing body to ensure it could operate more effectively, and in order to comply with the Department's preferred model when other academies joined the trust to form a multi-academy trust.
We are aware of the serious allegations made in relation to some local authority schools and academies in Birmingham. Park View Academy has recently been inspected by Ofsted, and officials from the Department have also visited the school. We will not hesitate to take firm action if the high standards and requirements expected of schools are not being met – in particular, where we become aware of issues of concern in an academy we will move quickly to resolve these. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.