Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP, Secretary of State, Department for Education
and Skills
I would like to take this opportunity to elaborate
further on some of my responses to questions raised at the Education
and Skills Select Committee hearing on 19 December, as well as
to provide some additional information requested. I have also,
for the Committee's information, attached a copy of the Trust
prospectus that was published on 6 January and the White Paper
fact sheets (on local authorities and admissions) that have been
published so far.[9]
TRUST SCHOOLS—QUESTIONS
704, 705
Trusts which have objects other than those in
relation to a school will be charities, because we will specify
that their objects must be exclusively charitable. They will be
required to register with the Charity Commission. The Charity
Commission will need to be satisfied that the objects of an organisation
are charitable (within the meaning of the Charities Act), and,
that its activities are in accordance with those objects. They
would not, therefore, register a charity which had incompatible
objects, or allow a charity to acquire new objects which were
incompatible with its existing objects—as such a charity
would not be able to achieve its objects.
We would not wish to prevent existing charitable
organisations with both educational and non-educational objects
from acting as Trusts for schools. Nor would we wish to prevent
Trusts from pursuing other charitable objects in addition to those
relating to schools—bearing in mind that, as indicated above,
any such objects would have to be compatible with their objects
relating to schools. We believe it would be wrong to limit such
Trusts' ability to benefit local communities more widely where
they have the capacity to do so.
If a Trust provided services to a school and
generated surplus income from doing so, it would be able to put
that surplus towards the school, towards any other school for
which it acted as the Trust or for another of its charitable objects.
It would be for the governing body of the school to decide whether
to purchase services from a Trust, taking into account the extent
to which those services offered value for money in comparison
with the services offered by other providers. Regulations already
provide that governors may not take part in decisions about the
purchase of services from the bodies that appoint them: this would
mean that the governors appointed by a Trust could not take part
in any decision to purchase services from that Trust.
6TH FORM
EXPANSION—QUESTION
787
The Department's Five Year Strategy for Children
and Learners announced a package of new measures making it easier
for successful schools to open a sixth form where there is a demand
for good quality new sixth form provision. This includes a new
16-19 capital fund, new fast-track arrangements for deciding sixth
form proposals and a presumption that proposals from high-performing
specialist schools that opt for a vocational specialism will be
approved by the School Organisation Committee. The "presumption"
arrangements will also apply to schools, whether specialist or
not, that meet the high-performing criteria and do not require
additional capital resources. The Department has published full
guidance on implementation of these measures which can be found
at www.teachernet.gov.uk/educationoverview/briefing/currentstrategy/16to19.
SEN AND ACADEMIES—QUESTION
640
Parents of children with statements of SEN may
express a preference for their child to attend a particular maintained
school. This does not include Academies, which are independent
schools. However, parents of children with a statement of SEN
can make representations to the local authority for an Academy
to be named in their child's statement Where parents make such
representations, the local authority must take them into account
when deciding where to place the child. In these circumstances
the local authority will consult the Academy.
When a local authority proposes to name the
Academy in a statement of SEN made in accordance with section
324 of the Education Act 196, the Academy `shall consent to being
named except where admitting the child would be incompatible with
the provision of efficient education for other children and where
no reasonable steps may be made to secure compatibility' (Annex
3 of the Academy funding agreement—contract between the
Academy Trusts and the Secretary of State).
January 2006
9 Not printed. Back
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