The Department for Education has been accused of “weakening” its position on local governance in a “confusing” Schools Bill statement.
The Schools White Paper, published in March, said that all academy trusts should have local governance arrangements for their schools.
But in a “clarification” to Schools Bill policy statements this week, the DfE said it would not seek to “mandate” local governing bodies.
The DfE added that academy trusts could choose whether to have local governing bodies, but that its aim was for all schools to have “a voice in the governance of their academy trusts through local governance arrangements, as already happens in most trusts”.
However, the National Governance Association (NGA) has said it found the wording of the clarification “slightly confusing”, and that it “weakened” the DfE’s approach.
Sam Henson, director of policy and information at the association, said he had understood that the DfE’s expectation was still that trusts should have local governing bodies - albeit without strict mandation - but said the language used in the clarification was “not as clear as it needs to be”.
He said the organisation was previously “pleased” that the Schools White Paper looked to strengthen the position on local governance, and was not sure why the new wording appeared to be “weakening” this.
Mr Henson said that the statement should make the DfE’s expectation that trusts should have local governing bodies clear, even though they are not mandating it.
He added: “Our findings show the vast majority of trusts have local governance, and the CEOs and trust boards we speak to remain very committed to it. We welcome the DfE’s commitment to ensuring local governance, and look forward to developing the expectations further with them.”
But Leora Cruddas, chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), said that the clarification was “helpful”.
Ms Cruddas said the government should not seek to “interfere” in the governance arrangements of legal entities and that the clarification made it clear that they did not intend to do so.
She said that trusts ”must be able to determine their own governance arrangements” and that how and what they delegated through local governance arrangements was “a matter for the trust board”.
In some cases, she added, trusts convene local governance arrangements that are responsible for more than one school. “It may not be appropriate in all cases for trusts to have local governance arrangements, for example in a single academy trust or a very small geographically proximate multi-academy trust where the board oversees all the schools,” she said.
The DfE said in its White Paper plans that it would discuss how to implement local governance arrangements with the sector, and this week’s clarification also confirms this.
The row follows criticism from Emma Knights, chief executive of the NGA, over plans announced by the government to allow councils to apply for some maintained schools to become an academy, regardless of whether its governing body agrees.
Ms Knights said the DfE was “riding roughshod over the established system of school governance” with the plans.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
