Local authorities’ proposed new academisation powers will be more sweeping even than those the Department for Education now holds

New powers over academisation, which the newly-published schools bill will give to local authorities, remarkably are more sweeping even than any of those which the Department for Education itself has had since the policy was introduced 20 years ago.

The powers are also more all-embracing than any intervention levers councils have had in recent years, with respect to schools they oversee.

Under the bill which was published yesterday, local authorities would be given more or less unconditional powers to apply to the Department for Education for academy orders for any of their schools. In the case of foundation or voluntary aided or controlled schools, they would need to gain the “consent” of the school’s foundation. But in the case of non-foundation community schools, of which more than 6,000 still exist making them the largest single category of state school in England, no such permission will be required.

The bill, which begins its passage through Parliament on Monday, offers no stipulation as to the circumstances in which a local authority might choose to apply to the DfE to academise one or more of its schools.

It thus sets up a power whereby a council could effectively academise a school – it seems unlikely that the DfE would refuse a request, given its focus on academisation – against the wishes of a governing body, in any circumstance.

The DfE power