Queen’s speech - the impact for academy trusts and schools
The Queen’s speech, which sets out the government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year, was delivered by her son Prince Charles and is set to, in Boris’ words get the country “back on track.”
A new Schools Bill, the first since 2016, included a variety of elements not least the promise of supporting more schools to become part of a strong, multi-academy trust. But what is a “strong trust”? There is no definition for what that term means. Is it all schools are rated “good”? Does it mean their finances and governance are robust? How is that going to be measured?
The promise of “all academisation” has been heard before but the lack of definition makes things problematic. How in touch with their local communities are Regional School Commissioners to know what is a “strong trust”? Whilst I can see the plan, I am struggling with the implementation because without a guide as to what is deemed to be “strong” how can Trusts plan and develop to accommodate growth?
Aside from the Schools Bill a variety of others were also named. But which will also impact schools? Let us take a look.
Good old GDPR. European legislation brought it in and without doubt it helped increase our procedures around the data we hold. But we are not in Europe anymore and hence a Data Reform Bill will be released. Will this mean an end to “allow cookies” being accepted on every single website? Lets hope so. But it is also one to watch for academy trusts as it will impact your everyday lives.
An Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill will beef up the investigatory powers of Companies House – where all Academy Trusts are registered – and aim to increase corporate transparency. Although targeted at overseas entities and who their beneficial owners are – no doubt linked to the current Ukraine crisis – Trusts might want to expect to see more transparency being mooted regarding who the “owners” of the Trust are i.e. the Members.
The Procurement Bill will simplify things by replacing EU rules on how the public sector purchases services from the private sector. The government said public sector buyers would have “more freedom and flexibility by allowing them to better negotiate with suppliers and to design the buying process to meet the needs of their specific procurement.” Let us hope so as the current rules really do restrict a Trust’s ability to get services which entirely meet their needs.
There will be a draft Audit Reform Bill – aimed to improve financial reporting and increase competition among auditors. This is likely to be some years away but is likely to mean more work for the audit sector and that means higher costs to pass onto Trusts potentially. Most audit firms tend to give a heads up when reforms are coming in and their impact so its worth bearing in mind your tender timescales when they do!
Finally, the Modern Slavery Bill has been around for some time, but those large Trusts with more than £36million of income will have to publish a statement every year on the steps they are taking to prevent modern slavery among their suppliers – hopefully, minimal impact to Trusts but still, more admin.
Share This
Back to blog
