Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria her Department used to decide whether to intervene in the (a) financial management and (b) governance of multi-academy trusts as a result of concerns reported to her by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Accountability is founded on a clear framework communicated and regulated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), with effective oversight and compliance based on proportionate risk assessment, and robust intervention when things go wrong.

Where concerns arise, the ESFA works with trusts to prevent financial instability and enable them to recover their financial position and return to stable governance.

Intervention is always proportionate and risk-based and linked to non-compliance with requirements set out in the Academies Financial Handbook and academies’ funding agreements. Each case is assessed on its merits and the ESFA has a range of actions ranging from corresponding with trusts through to the termination of a trust’s funding agreement.

The ESFA’s approach considers the issue and local circumstances. Where an academy trust requires additional support, the ESFA will work with the trust to help it reach a stronger position. Where there is a risk to public funds, the ESFA will intervene in a way that is proportionate to the risk and preserves the effective education of children, including in the most serious cases termination of the Funding Agreement.

The ESFA are always looking to strengthen their ability to identify risk, developing significant support for greater school efficiency and are proactive in assessing risk to prevent financial issues arising in academy trusts.