After an eight-year investigation that allegedly uncovered £3 million of “improper” academy trust spending and led to the banning of two heads, the government has bizarrely claimed an investigation report into the scandal “does not exist”.
The Department for Education has for years promised to publish its investigation report into the collapse of the Lilac Sky Schools Trust.
An “outcome” report was published online this year.
While it alleged more than £3 million of trust spending was deemed “contentious, irregular or improper”, it had few further details.
The government previously dodged releasing the investigation under the freedom of information process, saying it “intended to publish the final report once the investigation had concluded”.
But after a new FOI from Schools Week, the DfE has now claimed: “A final investigation report does not exist.”
Holly Lawton, the deputy director for counter fraud and prevention at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, said the previous report was an “interim paper intended to support the investigation process”.
“The nature of the information contained within the paper was unverified and therefore incomplete.”
When asked for clarity on the meaning of “unverified”, the DfE said this “does not mean that the information or evidence gathered by the investigation is inaccurate”.
Instead, it means the Maxwellisation process – where all parties named in the report have a chance to respond – has not been completed.
Transparency campaigner Andy Jolley said: “It’s nonsense officials haven’t received a final report, they are using semantics to protect people from scrutiny.”
Laura McInerney, an FOI expert, said there were 23 reasons the government could give to not provide information.
“They can’t just now claim a report they said existed has disappeared. They should follow the rules, just like schools are expected to do.”
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