Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department was notified of concerns about the financial stability of the Wakefield City Academy Trust by the Schools Commissioner.

Following a disappointing set of results in 2016, where 17 of its 21 academies were below average, and with four of its academies judged inadequate by Ofsted, Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) became particularly concerned about schools in the Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT).

The Trust Board recognised that it did not have the capacity within the Trust and its academies to bring about the rapid, sustainable school improvement which many of its schools needed, and passed a resolution to ask the department to re-broker all of its schools to new trusts that did have capacity. The decision to re-broker all 21 schools and close WCAT was based on concerns regarding the disappointing educational performance of 17 of its 21 academies, and not on financial management of the trust.

RSCs are embedded in the Department for Education so there is not an inherent time lag between concerns being identified and RSCs and the wider department taking appropriate action.