Public Accounts Committee criticises conflicts of interest in academies

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) - 10 June publication of 'Education Funding Agency and Department for Education financial statements'


On finances Margaret Hodge MP, chair of PAC, said: 'It (The EFA) needs more complete, accurate and timely information on academies’ finances and to get much tougher on those who fail to comply with reporting requirements: nearly one in ten academy trusts failed to submit their accounts on time last year.'

Yorkshire Post: highlights the Kings Science Academy angle - Margaret Hodge said: 'In the recent high-profile case of Kings Science Academy, the Agency did not even know who the chair of trustees was.'

BBC:

The Independent links report to Trojan Horse affair.

Telegraph: 'Speaking as the report was published, Mrs Hodge said: “We were concerned that individuals with connections to both academy trusts and private companies may have benefited from their position when providing trusts with goods and services. The agency has reviewed 12 such cases but it is likely that many more exist and have gone unchallenged.

“The Department for Education takes the view that these so-called ‘related-party transactions’ are acceptable. We feel that they are always open to accusations of conflicts of interests, even when supposedly on a not-for-profit basis, and this serves to undermine public confidence. We are therefore calling on the agency to reconsider its policy which permits related-party transactions.”'

411 breaches of funding rules by academies last year, including 339 cases of late submission of financial returns. But the report found that the agency had only used its penalty powers to issue "financial notices"