City academies scandal prompts oversight calls Millions ‘disappearing into the pockets of those in charge’
THE Birmingham school finance scandal which led to the resignation of ‘superhead’ Liam Nolan has prompted calls for councils to be given greater powers to monitor funding of academies.
Earlier this year, Mr Nolan stepped down as head and chief executive of the Perry Beeches Academy Trust after investigations, prompted by an internal whistleblower, found financial mismanagement, including £1.3 million payments to suppliers linked to school governors without contracts.
A government investigation found Mr Nolan was paid an extra £160,000 over two years on top of his £120,000 salary via education company Nexus Schools.
Meanwhile, he was being lauded by former Prime Minister David Cameron and former Education Secretary Michael Gove as a shining example of the success of the academy system.
This, along with a string of scandals at other academies throughout the country, has prompted the Local Government Association (LGA) to call for councils to be given greater powers to oversee academies.
At present, academies are answerable only to the Department for Education and its Education Funding Agency – but the LGA said it was incapable of keeping tabs on the 5,000 academies and free schools – a number which is set to rise to 20,000 by 2022.
LGA education chairman Richard Watts, who is also Labour leader of Islington Council, said: “We are told that academies and free schools are subject to more financial scrutiny than council-maintained schools, yet we keep hearing that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, which has been earmarked to make sure our children get a good education, is disappearing into the back pockets of those in charge.
“Parents have a right to know that their children have access to the best possible education and support at school – and that money for teachers and equipment isn’t instead being spent on first class train tickets or topping up chief executive salaries.
“Effective auditing of school accounts must be in place for that to happen.”
His call echoes comments made by Birmingham’s own education chief, Councillor Brigid Jones, in the wake of the Perry Beeches and Trojan Horse schools scandals.
Speaking in March, she said the scandals raised “very serious questions about both the leadership at Perry Beeches and about ministers’ oversight of academies”.
The LGA report also highlighted the case of the founder and two members of staff at Kings Science Academy in Bradford being found guilty of transferring £150,000 of Department for Education grants into their own bank accounts as well as raising questions over the 40 larg- est academy trusts paying executive salaries totalling more than £1 million each.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “All academies operate under a strict system of oversight and accountability – more robust than in council-run schools – ensuring any issues are identified quickly. Unlike other schools their accounts are scrutinised by an independent auditor and we have considerably more financial information about academies than we ever had for council-run schools.”