Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that views gathered during the development of the proposed Management Information System procurement framework are representative of schools and academy trusts.

Department officials have presented at various forums where National Association of Head Teachers, Association of School and College Leaders and Confederation of School Trusts have been in attendance. This represents over 49,000 school leaders, 25,000 senior leaders and 80% of school trusts who educate over 4 million children collectively.

In addition, officials have held meetings with 36 schools, 72 academy trusts and 22 local authorities, issued communications via regular routes such as the DfE Update and Sector Email and established a representative sector working group.

Schools have reported a range of challenges including supplier lock-in, inability to access data, lack of transparent pricing and difficulty achieving value for money.