Government faces cover-up row over fraud probe at flagship Bradford free school

MPs have called for independent investigations into why the Department for Education’s (DfE) findings about the Kings Science Academy in Bradford were not subject to a criminal investigation for more than five months after they were first reported.

The Speaker of the House of Commons is to decide this morning whether to grant an urgent question calling on Education Secretary Michael Gove to make a statement to MPs.

A DfE spokesman dismissed the suggestion of a cover-up and said the delay in the police investigation had been caused by an error by Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting centre.

The DfE investigation into Kings Science Academy found the free school had submitting fabricated invoices to claim thousands of pounds of public money.

A redacted report from that investigation, dated May of this year, was published only 12 days ago after a draft had been leaked to the media. The DfE issued a statement with it which said it had “informed the police who decided no further action was necessary”.

As the Yorkshire Post revealed on Saturday, however, the case had actually been mistakenly passed to the police as an information report, meaning no criminal investigation had taken place when the DfE made its original statement.

The Home Office said the administrative error had been made by Action Fraud which led to the matter being treated as an information report rather than a potential crime before being sent to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) for assessment.

The Home Office said this error came to light only last week. The case was first reported to Action Fraud by a phone call from the DfE on April 25.

West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation last week after being passed the case by the NFIB after the allegations had become public. Now MPs in Bradford are demanding to know why the DfE did not realise that its report had not been properly passed on to police. The report found that £86,335 of a lead-in grant given to help the free school open had “not been used for its intended purpose”. It recommended the matter be passed to police.

Now MPs are questioning why it effectively took more than five months for this recommendation to be followed.

Concerns centre on why when Action Fraud told the DfE that no action was being taken why it did not become clear at this stage that the matter had only been passed to police for information.

The DfE also faces questions about why it did not find out the basis for the police taking no further action and also whether its audit report was originally passed on to Action Fraud when the matter was first reported..

Bradford East MP David Ward said: “Because free schools are such a flagship policy there is always a concern about the level of scrutiny they face and this is looking increasingly like a cover-up. If the DfE report had not been leaked would this matter have ever come to light?”

George Galloway, the MP for Bradford West, added: “I wondered if this was incompetence or a cover-up and now it appears it is both.”

The pair have submitted a series of questions to the DfE and the Home Office. Mr Galloway has called on the Home Secretary to hold an independent inquiry and asked for permission to ask an urgent question calling Mr Gove to the House of Commons today to make a statement. Mr Ward is urging the Public Accounts Committee to investigate.

A DfE spokesman said it contacted Action Fraud on September 5 to ask for an update and was told no further action was being taken. He said the Education Funding Agency, the arm of DfE which had carried out this report, was awaiting the outcome of police inquiries and any disciplinary processes before publishing but insisted the report was always going to be published.

He said this was brought forward when the DfE became aware the report had leaked to the media. “The department followed all correct procedures in reporting this incident. Action Fraud have apologised to the department for an administrative error which delayed the case being referred to West Yorkshire Police for investigation,” the spokesman added.