Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing for a route whereby schools in difficulty which have been converted to academy status can revert to local authority control; and if he will make a statement.

We have no plans to consider returning schools back to local authorities.

Indeed, as of March 2018, over half a million pupils now study in sponsored academies that are rated Good or Outstanding; they typically replaced underperforming maintained schools.

The department firmly believe that becoming an academy can bring enormous benefits to schools and their pupils; coming together in a multi-academy trust, sharing expertise, working collaboratively, driving improvements.

Hundreds of schools every year continue to voluntarily choose to become an academy and join a multi academy trust.

The department is working on a range of methods and tools for building trust capacity and assessing risk.