25 July 2003
Southwark council has named Cambridge Education Associates as the stopgap manager of its troubled education service, after consultant WS Atkins pulled out.
CEA will run the service for a year while the Office for Public Management leads a review of how the London borough should manage its schools in the long term.
Council leader Nick Stanton said: 'CEA will take care of our education service until the new model is introduced next year. Staff, pupils and parents will then see an end to five years of instability and will be able to enjoy an excellent education service.'
The Department for Education and Skills told Southwark to hand its schools over to Atkins in 2001 after two critical Ofsted reports. The contract was to run for five years, but in March Atkins said it wanted to pull out as it could not make enough money from the operation.
The Atkins school staff will join the council this month, except for a few senior managers who will join CEA.
CEA took over the London Borough of Islington's education service in 1999, again on a government direction.
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