My Lords, I agree very strongly with the case made by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, for a governing body in each academy. I want to speak specifically to Amendment 38, which stands in my name and the name of my noble friend Lord Storey. It proposes a new clause after Clause 4 to ensure that there is a governing body for each individual academy, with a clearly defined role for parents and the local authority—and I remind the Committee that I am a vice-president of the Local Government Association—on each governing body.
Members would be, as a minimum,
“the headteacher … at least one person appointed by the proprietor of the Academy … at least one person employed by the proprietor to work at the Academy … elected by those persons employed … to work at that Academy … at least one parent or guardian of a pupil registered at the Academy, elected by the parents and guardians”
and
“at least one person appointed by the local authority in England in which the Academy is located.”
That would not be an exhaustive list and it would certainly be essential to ensure that at least one governor was a local employer. We also draw out the need for specific powers to be given to the governing body to apply to the Secretary of State to transfer the academy to a different proprietor, if it was felt necessary to do this in the interests of the school.
As we heard from the noble Lord, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, other amendments in this group relate to similar matters, such as trustees for each academy trust or multi-academy trust, parental and community engagement, parents’ councils and delegated powers for each local governing body to enable them to undertake their duties fully. There is scope for bringing all these separate amendments together on Report because they all share a common objective: of an academy being an effective and important part of a neighbourhood or community.
There is a great danger of a multi-academy trust removing a highly skilled governing body. There is also a danger that such a trust, to cover its own costs, would end up top-slicing schools’ budgets and making successful, smaller schools a little less viable. There is another danger: of increasing bureaucracy by preventing senior leaders in a school taking decisions, particularly on the curriculum.
We have heard a difference of opinion about whether multi-academy trusts may be effective in supporting struggling schools to improve. It is my personal view from an anecdotal impression, not having read any of the specific research, that multi-academy trusts have certainly helped struggling schools to improve. But I have not yet worked out why, if all schools in an area which might become a multi-academy trust are already good or outstanding, what the point is of forcing them into such a trust. What is the purpose of that? There are all kinds of examples of trusts operating which are not multi-academy trusts; other forms of trust can operate. I just want to be convinced that there is an advantage in forcing schools which are already successful into a multi-academy trust which could take power and resource from them, and run the risk of turning them into a less effective school.