Regional schools commissioners quizzed by MPs

The education select committee questioned three of the country's regional schools commissioners (RSC) to give evidence into an inquiry into multi academy trusts.

Jennifer Bexon-Smith, the RSC for the east midlands and the Humber, Rebecca Clark, the RSC for the south west and Janet Renou, the RSC for the north of England were questioned.

Ian Mearns MP questioned the process of dealing with failing academies, stating it was too slow, pointing out that Just 84 of the 277 academies rated as inadequate between 2010 and 2015, had been found new academy sponsors.

Bexon Smith told the committee: "Re-brokerage does sometimes take time, and that is about finding the right match.

"We have got to persuade another trust to take on a school that has already been brokered once [converted to academy status].

"And we often find they will look at it, they have to do their due diligence, and say, 'It is too broken, we would not be able to take it on,'" she said.

Rebecca Clark said: "Five to 10 to 15 years from now, we should have a system where we can catch schools before they go into decline," she said.

But Ian Mearns replied: "The children in the schools we are talking about have not got five, 10, 15 years, they need the school that they are in improved around them now, and they need someone overseeing improvement and doing it very quickly."

The committee also learnt that new ‘health checks’ for academy trusts that want to expand were being trialled, and that they would be run by CEO-led panels.

Bexon-Smith said: “In terms of the process, there will be an experienced CEO, a finance director, a board member and a member of the actual trust that’s being inspected and they will have a series of five areas they will focus on and there will be structured questions.”

A full roll-out of the health checks will be introduced in 2017, they said.