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, what guidance her Department has published on academy schools and their entitlement to run consultancy businesses alongside the educational function of the school.

Edward Timpson

The Department’s Governance Handbook states that:

“An academy trust’s Articles of Association set out its ‘object’ and the powers that it may exercise to further that object. These powers include the power to establish or support any charitable companies or trusts formed for the trust’s object and to set up subsidiary companies to carry on any trade or business to raise funds for the trust.”

The Department’s Governance Handbook is available on GOV.UK at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/governance-handbook

The model Articles of Association also require that the trust’s income and property shall be applied solely towards the promotion of the trust’s charitable objects. The Charity Commission provides guidance for charities on trading activity on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/trustees-trading-and-tax-how-charities-may-lawfully-trade-cc35/trustees-trading-and-tax-how-charities-may-lawfully-trade.

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