Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many directive academy orders have been issued to maintained schools that Ofsted has rated as inadequate pursuant to s4(A1) of the Academies Act 2010; and how many of those schools have subsequently opened as sponsored academies.

The 2016 Education and Adoption Act[1] placed a duty on the Secretary of State to make an academy order in respect of any maintained school that has been judged inadequate by Ofsted, to enable it to become an academy and receive additional support from a sponsor.

Between 18 April 2016, when this power came into force, and 1 May 2018, the department has issued 426 academy orders to inadequate local authority maintained schools. Of these, 218 have since opened as sponsored academies. In all cases, we will ensure that there is appropriate support in place to secure improvement until the school converts. This can be from the preferred sponsor or through another multi-academy trust or teaching school alliance, or direct from the local authority. Some schools do not proceed to conversion, either because they close or merge or because they improve sufficiently and are removed from special measures. 21 have had their academy orders revoked, either due to subsequent Ofsted inspections, or closure or merger.

[1] Section 4(A1) of the Academies Act 2010, as inserted by the Education and Adoption Act 2016.