Council chiefs call for return of powers over schools

Councils should have powers over schools restored to them to prevent further controversies such as Birmingham’s Trojan Horse affair, the Local Government Association has said.

Birmingham has seen Ofsted and Department for Education intervention at both council and academy schools since an anonymous letter last winter alleged an organised plot existed for extreme Islamists to take over school governing bodies.

The LGA argued the dispute showed that reforms to create academy and free schools had left no local source of intervention when problems arise.

It said empowered councils were “the solution to holding local schools to account ensuring scrutiny, standards of conduct and support packages to help rebuild both pupil and parent confidence”.

Councils should, it said, gain powers to trigger Ofsted inspections, challenge governors, scrutinise budgets and offer support and intervention at an early stage in every local school whatever its status.

David Simmonds, chair of the LGA's children and young people board, said: “Whitehall acknowledges that it lacks the capacity and local knowledge to oversee the more than 3,500 academies and free schools in England and parents deserve a local organisation to act as a first port of call if they are not satisfied with the response from their child's school or its governing body.”

Parents would instinctively turn to councils for help but were “rightly becoming increasingly frustrated when their council is unable to intervene”.

He added: “The current two-tier system of accountability is extremely confusing for parents with many not knowing if they should report an issue to their council or the Department for Education.

“It is simply not acceptable that poor exam results or an Ofsted inspection should be the only triggers to identify how a school is performing. At present, there is a real risk of serious issues falling through the gaps.”

Polling for the LGA Populus this spring showed 89% of the public thought the power to build and maintain new schools should be returned to councils.

Mark Smulian