Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of monitoring related party transactions in Academy Trusts in the (a) 2013-14 and (b) 2014-15 financial years; and what the projected cost of such transactions is in 2015-16.

The board of trustees of an academy trust is responsible for monitoring related party transactions. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) reviews related party transactions as part of our assurance and intervention work. Oversight of related party transactions in academies is strong, compared to maintained schools, because of the requirement for trusts to publish details in their financial statements and to have these audited.

This work forms part of the EFA’s regular assurance and intervention work and does not have a cost associated with it as part of the whole budget for the EFA.