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MPs urge DfE to make academy trusts more transparent and accountable to parents

Governance and management School funding and finance Parental engagement Government policy Whole-school issues
Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are “not sufficiently transparent or accountable to parents and communities” and a “succession of high-profile academy failures” has damaged children’s education and been costly to the taxpayer, a cross-party group of MPs has said.

A report from the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts (CPA) has concluded that the governance of academy trusts must be strengthened and government oversight more rigorous.

There are now around 7,500 academy schools in England, educating 3.8 million children, with most operating as part of a MAT. MATs are directly funded by, and accountable to, the Department for Education (DfE) via the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) and they received funding of £20 billion in 2017/18.

However, MPs found that parents and local people “have to fight to obtain even basic information about their children’s schools”. MATs do not do enough to communicate and explain decisions, they added.

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