Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department takes upon discovering concerns about the governance and financial management of multi-academy trusts; and if she will make a statement.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) periodically visit academy trusts to assess their financial management and governance arrangements; this includes multi-academy trusts reviews. We do not routinely publish these assurance reports. Where a concern is identified, ESFA will respond proportionate to the severity of the risk, taking into account the scale and nature of the issue, and any local circumstances. Where there are significant concerns about financial management or governance in an academy trust, ESFA may visit the trust to investigate and/or issue, and publish, a Financial Notice to Improve, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/academies-financial-notices-to-improve. The trust must comply with the terms of a Financial Notice to Improve; failure to comply will be deemed a breach of the funding agreement.