ANTI-ACADEMIES ALLIANCE

Early day motion 894, tabled 5 February 2008 by Ken Purchase (Labour). Signed by 33 members.

That this House congratulates the Anti-Academies Alliance on publishing its report of the parliamentary inquiry into school academies informed by the evidence of professionals and others working in academies, community campaigners, trade unions and educationalists, all concerned that the take-over of schools by outside commercial interests and religious orders is contrary to good equal opportunity practice in education, is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and is publishing insufficient detail on academy results, is creating unfair funding between schools, is operating admission and exclusion policies which skew intakes, is denying the protection of general education law to academy pupils and parents, is undermining local democracy and community solidarity, that the governance arrangements allow sponsors to appoint the majority of governors in perpetuity who are rarely representative of the school community, that the staff terms and conditions are leading to higher turnover rates and discriminatory employment practices and that the sponsor has almost absolute power once a school becomes an academy; and calls on the Government to take full account of the findings of the inquiry and to make urgent moves to implement them.

Signatures by party: Labour 27, Liberal Democrat 4, Independent 2.