Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to maintained schools to improve in advance of an academy order being issued.

We are committed to making sure that schools in all parts of the country can access support, collaboration and best practice by ensuring we have an effective network of system leaders.

School partnerships are a vital way of building capacity in the system and enabling schools to take ownership of school improvement by spreading the influence of the best school leaders. We already have over 1,150 National Leaders of Education and over 720 teaching schools working to increase leadership capacity and drive improvement in underperforming schools. The Department also funds programmes that aim to boost leadership capacity for schools in challenging contexts.

We believe that academy status and being part of a strong multi academy trust is the right way for all schools to improve. Therefore, where a school is found to be inadequate, we will issue an Academy Order.