Jess Phillips – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jess Phillips on 2016-04-12.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2016 to Question 31449, what the main components are of the expenditure that her Department incurs when a school converts to an academy.

Edward Timpson

The main expenditure incurred relates to the pre-opening start-up grants that are currently available to schools. Currently, grants are intended to be a contribution to the costs of conversion incurred by schools in establishing the academy. These may include legal fees, costs associated with transfer of land, transfer of software licences, Human Resources and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 advice and setting up the Academy Trust.

Grants to schools that become sponsored academies also include an element to support school improvement such as leadership support, teaching and learning interventions, pupil focused interventions, curriculum redesign and staff restructuring.