January 2006 will not be remembered as the best of months for the government’s Academy schools initiative. Des Smith, an advisor to the programme and a member of the council of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, was forced to resign mid-month after telling The Sunday Times that, ‘the Prime Minister’s office would recommend someone like (the sponsor) for an OBE, CBE or a knighthood. For £10m it might even be possible that, ‘you could go to the House of Lords’.

While various newspapers have pontificated about this scandal it should hardly come as any surprise. The profile of a typical sponsor has been described as ‘rich white men who in return for their money get knighthoods’. What lessons can businesses who are thinking about sponsoring an Academy learn?

• Academies are a political programme, driven from No. 10 and as such any decision making and actions will be based on both political and commercial considerations.

• High-level contacts will open doors in Whitehall but this is very different from concluding deals and while flagship government projects normally have an element of quid pro quo, they can also bring with them risks to corporate and individual reputations.

• Consider also whether or not the Treasury and the relevant departments(s) actually have the money to deliver the promises of the DfES.

• www.dfes.gov.uk