The government needs to do more than apologise to the parents of pupils at schools once run by the Bright Tribe academy chain, and launch a full inquiry, says UNISON today.
The union repeated its call for a proper investigation into allegations that Bright Tribe, which until recently ran five schools in Suffolk and Essex, misused public money following an interview given by Education Secretary Damian Hinds.
Speaking to Schools Week earlier this week, the Secretary of State apologised to the parents of pupils at the Whitehaven Academy in Cumbria, which has now been taken over by the Cumbria Education Trust following the troubled academy chain’s withdrawal from all ten schools it ran across England until recently.
Bright Tribe gave up its last five schools in Suffolk and Essex yesterday (Thursday), after UNISON helped a BBC Panorama investigation expose a slew of financial misconduct allegations linked to the chain and its multimillionaire founder Michael Dwan, who strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
Michael Dwan is accused of giving school IT and building contracts to companies in which he or other Bright Tribe bosses had interests, and then the work either wasn’t finished or simply was never carried out.
The company came under investigation by then regulator, the Education Funding Agency, for financial management, internal audit arrangements and the way contracts for goods and services were being awarded in July 2015 after UNISON raised a complaint.
Yet the firm still received £1m to turn around failing schools in northern England while it was under investigation, says UNISON.
Despite the Panorama probe and subsequent withdrawal of Bright Tribe from all its schools, UNISON says there has been no fresh investigation over the dubious goings-on at Bright Tribe and its associated companies.
UNISON Eastern regional secretary Chris Jenkinson said: “Families and staff at Whitehaven may well welcome this apology from the Education Secretary, but the children, parents and school workers in this neck of the woods don’t appear to have received any similar messages of regret.
“Missing from Damian Hinds’ ‘sorry’ is a promise that the government will actually do anything to ensure this never happens again.
“One good first step would be to quickly bring all these opaque academy chains back under full local democratic control and accountability.
“But there are also still piles of cash unaccounted for – including £750,000 at Colchester Academy, where it was UNISON that first suspected that something dodgy might be afoot at Bright Tribe.
“Bright Tribe and the government still have serious questions to answer about where the money’s gone. Parents, staff and won’t be happy until we get answers.”