Government to be put on spot over fraud probe at Bradford free school

MPs will have the chance to ask education questions this afternoon for the first time since it emerged that the Kings Science Academy, in Bradford, had fabricated invoices in order to claim thousands of pounds of public money.

Labour MPs are expected to ask questions about both the free school’s financial failings and the way in which the Department for Education has dealt with the case.

It follows suggestions from two MPs in Bradford that the Government has attempted to cover the allegations up.

A Labour Party spokesman told the Yorkshire Post last night that it intended to raise the issue of the Kings Science Academy in the Commons today.

Last month the DfE published a redacted report from its own internal audit of the Kings Science Academy. It revealed that someone at the school had admitted that it had submitted fabricated invoices to the DfE.

The report also found that £86,335 of a lead-in grant given by the department to help set up the free school had not been spent on what it was intended for.

The DfE published the report along with a statement which said that it had informed the police “who decided no further action was necessary”.

However it has since emerged that the case had been passed onto police as an information report, meaning no criminal investigation had taken place when the DfE made that statement.

The DfE reported the matter to Action Fraud – the UK’s national fraud reporting centre – in a phone call on April 25. A Home Office said an administrative error by Action Fraud led to it being classed an information report. Since the mistake came to light West Yorkshire Police has launched its own investigation.

The Home Office says the “administrative error” was only discovered at the beginning of this month.

Bradford’s Liberal Democrat MP David Ward and Respect MP George Galloway have both questioned why the DfE failed to realise that the matter had not been properly passed onto the police sooner.

Mr Galloway has also criticised the DfE for not submitting its report into the free school’s finances to the police.

Between them the two MPs have submitted more than 20 written Parliamentary questions to Education Secretary Michael Gove and Home Secretary Theresa May regarding the Kings Science Academy case.

Last week Mr Galloway was denied the chance to ask an urgent question calling on Mr Gove to come to the House to make a statement to MPs. He is now trying to get an adjournment debate on the issue.

Today’s education questions will give MPs the chance to ask the Government about the case for the first time.

Kings Science Academy was one of the first three free schools to open in Yorkshire in 2011.

It began life in temporary accommodation in Manningham before moving to a new £10m building in the Lidget Green area of the city last year.

The secondary school was praised by Prime Minister David Cameron following a visit last year during the campaign for the Bradford West by-election.