New trust to run education service

Hackney Council in London is facing financial meltdown

For the first time, an independent, non-profit making trust is to take over a council's school services.

The government has announced that Hackney Council in north-east London, which has financial problems, has agreed to hand over the running of its education to a trust.

At present some of Hackney's education services are run by the profit-making firm Nord Anglia.

One teachers' union said it hoped the novel trust arrangement would mark "the end of the government's flirtation with profit making companies"

The School Standards Minister, Stephen Timms, said the new trust would take over when Nord Anglia's contract ended next July.

The decision is based on the advice of a team commissioned by the council and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) in August to look at the future of schooling in Hackney.

Mr Timms said there is a lot of work ahead

The trust would be the first body of its kind to be responsible for turning round a failing local education authority.

Mr Timms said: "There is a considerable amount of work required in a very short timescale to establish the trust, but we are confident that Hackney is committed to developing a high quality education service and will do all that is necessary to implement the arrangements.

"We will be continuing to support them throughout the process."

Hackney Council leader, Jules Pipe, said: "We wanted to ensure that we explored a range of possibilities and to agree on one that meets the particular circumstances of Hackney."

The trust would do that, he said.

"This will ensure that the council can devote its energy and commitment to ensuring a clear strategic direction for the future of education services within a framework of open accountability to local people through the democratic process."

The DfES said the trust would be "self-standing, incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, contracted to Hackney Council".

Staff transfers

"All staff currently employed by the local education authority or Nord Anglia operating services that are transferring to the Trust, will become employees of the Trust."

A spokesman added that it was not envisaged that any staff would not transfer.

The general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, Doug McAvoy, said it was a pity such a solution had not been found sooner.

"Schools in Hackney have been left without adequate back up as a result of the poor management of services by the authority," he said.

'Body blow'

"I hope this announcement marks the end of the government's flirtation with profit-making companies.

"If so, it will deal a body blow to Nord Anglia and similar companies which hoped to line their pockets from education."

But the DfES said the reason for the unique trust solution was that the independent inquiry into Hackney's problems - chaired by the former head of the Teacher Training Agency, Anthea Millett - had recommended such an arrangement.

They specifically wanted to deal with the issue of accountability," a spokesman said.

Accountability

"Because for a long time, teachers and head teachers had been saying they felt detached from the council.

"So we are saying, we accept the recommendations of the report and can see why they said that.

"It's not a case of getting cold feet about private sector involvement."

If council services are not reaching set standards the government has powers to order them to accept outside help.

'Not a snub'

Hackney's partial privatisation followed a damning report by the education watchdog, Ofsted.

Some other councils have contracted out all their education services to a private firm, such as Islington in north London calling in CEA@Islington.

Others, like Liverpool, restructured themselves without commercial input.

Mr Timms said an independent chair of the trust in Hackney would be appointed next month.

A DfES spokesman said the council would be represented by its managing director and lead councillor for education, who would be among 14 directors of the trust.

The spokesman said the decision to introduce the trust was not a snub to Nord Anglia.

He said: "Nord Anglia always had a specific contract to run school improvement and the ethnic minority achievement service.

"That contract was always going to run out in July 2002."