The small team of civil servants responsible for performance managing academies and free schools cannot do so effectively and could be putting children’s education at risk, the Local Government...
Local councils could be landed with a bill of up to £320m if all schools are converted into academies, according to Local Government Association figures.
Changes to how schools are funded will not tackle all the financial differences across the sector. Giving academy chains more power to distribute funding could help tackle regional inequities.
Education secretary Nicky Morgan has abandoned plans to force all schools to academies amid opposition from local authorities and some Conservative MPs.
Controversial plans to convert all schools in England to academies could hinder the ability of councils to support the most vulnerable children, ministers have been warned today.
All schools are due to become academies by 2022, yet arguments still rage over their effects on standards, their financial management and whether they provide value for money
Auditor general Amyas Morse has issued an adverse opinion on the truth and fairness of the Department for Education’s group financial statements for 2014-15, concluding they did not provide the...
The “vast majority” of schools will be part of multi-academy trusts by 2022, education secretary Nicky Morgan said today as she set out the government’s reform plans.
Education watchdog Ofsted has called for urgent improvements to secondary schools run by the E-ACT chain of academy after a review concluded standards at the trust were not good enough.
The government is planning a further expansion of its academies programme, but it is not clear there is capacity in the system to transform all these schools
An analysis of results at more than 150 academy schools in England has concluded that nearly half (44%) would be classed as “coasting” under the government’s proposed education reforms.
Government plans to intervene in ‘coasting’ schools must include an expanded role for councils to hold academies and free schools to account, the Local Government Association has said.
Five years of radical changes in education policy have created thousands of academy and free schools. But have financial management and governance kept pace?
Day-to-day spending on schools has been ‘remarkably’ well protected under the coalition government, but regardless of who wins the next election cuts of 7% or more are possible, the...
Council spending in England has been cut by almost a quarter on a per person basis since 2009/10, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The auditor general has given the Department for Education an adverse opinion after concluding it failed to meet Parliament’s accountability requirements on academy spending.
CIPFA has launched a one-stop-shop for finance professionals and accountable officers working in academies to access best practice and guidance to help them manage public resources.
There are now 4,000 academies but, as the education baton passes to Nicky Morgan, it may turn out that Michael Gove’s real legacy is in curriculum and teaching reforms
As the new term starts, Michael Gove’s education revolution continues apace. But where’s the evidence that academies and free schools will benefit the majority of pupils?
Prime minister Tony Blair this week took a more conciliatory tone towards local government when he urged councils to help Labour deliver its modernising agenda but his message failed to win over the...
