Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 30 October 2017 to Question 109401, what evidence she has to suggest that the publication of the ESFA report into Wakefield City Academies Trust would be obstructive to the process of ensuring all the schools are placed with new trusts; and if she will make a statement.

We are working to ensure we get a solution in place as quickly as possible for the pupils and the parents who are currently living with uncertainty around the future of their respective schools.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) routinely visits academy trusts to assess their financial management and governance arrangements; this includes multi-academy trust reviews. We do not routinely publish these assurance reports. All Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) monitor the performance of their schools on an ongoing basis, and where they have concerns, will work with trusts to find solutions. Following a disappointing set of results in 2016, RSCs became concerned about the Trust.

The ESFA undertook such a review of Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) between June and September 2015 and made a follow-up visit in July 2016. We do not intend to publish the ESFA report into WCAT, as this could be obstructive to the process of ensuring that all the schools are transferred to new trusts that will be able to provide an excellent education for children.

Like all multi-academy trusts, WCAT publishes its annual report and financial statements online found here: http://www.wcatrust.org/key-documentation/.