This investigation focuses on the circumstances relating to the monitoring of Learndirect Ltd by the Education and Skills Funding Agency, the inspection of the company by Ofsted, and the funding of the company by various government bodies.
Young people are making complex choices about higher education without much effective help and advice, and the institutions concerned are under very little competitive pressure to provide best value.
This is the first year in which the Department for Education (the Department) has produced Academy Sector Accounts which consolidate the results of the 3,013 academy trusts that were open during the year ended 31 August 2016.
The Department is exerting stronger oversight and sanctioning under-performing providers but there remain issues to resolve, such as more timely identification of underperformance and ineligible payments.
Schools, especially secondary schools, face real challenges in retaining and developing their teachers. National data suggest progress but mask significant local variation.
The NAO is publishing a suite of short guides for the new Parliament, one for each government department and a selection of cross-government issues, to assist House of Commons select committees and members of Parliament.
The Department must make the best use of the capital funding it has available by continuing to increase the use of data to inform its funding decisions and by creating places where it can demonstrate that they will have the greatest impact.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has provided an adverse opinion on the truth and fairness of the Department for Education’s group financial statements 2015-16. He has also qualified his regularity opinion because the Department has exceeded two of its expenditure limits authorised by Parliament. The Department has many challenges to overcome if it is to implement successfully its plans to provide Parliament with a better picture of academy trusts’ spending next year.
The government’s approach to managing the risks to schools’ financial sustainability cannot be judged to be effective or providing value for money until more progress is made.
The Department for Education is revising the way that consolidated financial information for the academies sector is reported to Parliament.