An unintended consequence after the government bailout of an Academy School project?
There has been speculation that as a result of the government making good the deficit of Unity Academy, sponsored by Amey, the Office of National Statistic’s (ONA) Public Sector Classification Committee had issued a ruling that classifying all new Academies as Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPB) which are wholly owned by the DfES).
If correct, then any new Academies would be included on the government’s balance sheet and would have to comply with EU tendering rules and be subject to external reviews and parliamentary scrutiny. However, according to Deborah Knight of the Academy Sponsors Trust recent media reports are incorrect with the ONA having classified Academies as Public Sector Bodies and not NDPBs.
However, a report in the Times (20/06/05) quoted a DfES spokesperson as saying, ‘The ONS decision does not affect the independence of Academies in terms of their legal status or their ability to make decisions’. The assertions by the AST and DfES seem confusing; obviously a decision by ONS and relevant to the Academies programme has been made, but its impact on potential sponsors and the government’s target for another 140 of these schools, is unclear.