MP plans showdown with Gove over ‘cover-up’ claims at school

David Ward has submitted a series of Parliamentary questions about the Department for Education’s handling of the Kings Science Academy in Bradford which he told the Yorkshire Post looked “increasingly like a cover up”.

The Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East said he has secured a meeting with Mr Gove for later this month and would be asking him a series of questions.

The allegations against the school emerged in a DfE report which found a raft of financial failings including submitting fabricated invoices to the department to claim thousands of pounds of public money. The DfE published this report last month along with a statement which said it had “informed the police who decided no further action was necessary”.

However a week later the Yorkshire Post revealed that when the DfE reported the issue to Action Fraud – the UK’s fraud reporting centre – it was recorded incorrectly as an information report. This meant that when the DfE said police had decided to take no action in fact no police investigation had taken place or decision taken.

Since this came to light the matter has been passed on to West Yorkshire Police who are now investigating – five months after DfE first attempted to report it to the police .

Earlier this week the DfE dismissed claims of a cover-up and said the delay was caused by a mistake made by Action Fraud.

Last night Mr Ward told the Yorkshire Post he would ask Mr Gove both about the way in which Kings Science Academy was set up, the findings of the DfE’s owning report detailing financial mismanagement and the DfE’s handling of the case after the alleged fraud came to light.

Separately he is also to ask Mr Gove about the involvement in the school of the vice chairman of the Conservative Party Alan Lewis, who is the Kings Science Academy’s executive patron.

A spokesman for the Hartley Group, of which Mr Lewis is the chairman, said: “At no time has Mr Lewis had responsibility for, or been involved in, the financial management of the academy.

“Mr Lewis offered to assist the academy to address issues of governance and finance, and in that context he recommended the appointment of the auditors Crowe Clark Whitehill. Our understanding is that since October 2012 the financial management systems and controls put in place at the academy, in accordance with the advice given by Mr Lewis, have been acknowledged to be entirely satisfactory.”

The DfE said it had received a request from Mr Ward for a meeting and would respond shortly.

Bradford West MP George Galloway has also been calling for answers from the DfE over the Kings Science Academy. He is now seeking to get the matter debated in the House of Commons.

The Respect MP said: “I have applied for an adjournment debate where I can address all of the needful and uncomfortable questions to the minister. I hope that is next week. But if not I will keep pushing until we know exactly what happened between the DfE, Action Fraud and the police and what involvement, if any, the politicians had.

“It’s clear that what we know now is that the department made, at best, a half-hearted attempt to have this damning report passed on for investigation for alleged fraud. And then did nothing for five months.”

Mr Ward has also said that he plans to raise the issues around the Kings Science Academy as part of the Education Select Committee’s new hearing into academies and free schools.

Mr Gove has written to leaders of two of England’s biggest teaching unions to set up talks over their dispute which has been heading towards a national strike.

The National Union of Teachers and the NASUWT last month agreed to suspend a one-day walkout after they received confirmation that Mr Gove was willing to discuss a basis for “genuine talks” on the key issues.