Police launch inquiry into Bradford school’s finance claims

The force’s Economic Crime Unit is looking into the case involving the Kings Science Academy, in Bradford, after it was passed to them today by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.

MPS from the city are now demanding to know why the matter was not passed onto the West Yorkshire force sooner.

The Department for Education (DfE) has said it reported the case to Action Fraud - a national centre for reporting fraud - in April after its own investigation into the school found a raft of serious financial failings including submitting “fabricated invoices” to the department.

A redacted report from this probe into the Kings Science Academy was published by DfE on Friday last week along with a statement which said that police had decided no further action was necessary.

However, a statement from West Yorkshire Police today in which they said they were to investigate also contradicted one put out by the DfE earlier which had claimed the force had been aware of the case.

West Yorkshire Police said: “The DfE reported the matter to Action Fraud, the national fraud reporting mechanism, on April 25, 2013. It was recorded as an information only case not as a crime.

“This was not sent to West Yorkshire Police either as information or for investigation.”

The suggestion the matter has been recorded as being for information only rather than as an alleged crime has angered two Bradford MPs who are now demanding answers as to exactly how the DfE reported it and why the case is only being passed onto West Yorkshire Police now when the damning DfE report into the school dates back to May.

The report which was carried out by the Education Funding Agency (EFA), an arm of the DfE, had recommended the matter be passed onto the police.

Bradford West MP George Galloway said: “I do not accept that there was some reasonable excuse for not bringing in West Yorkshire Police to investigate, as is happening now. And I will not be satisfied until we know exactly the chain of events, and who was involved.”

David Ward, the Lib Dem MP for Bradford East said he was now planning to urge Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to launch its own enquiry.

Before West Yorkshire Police announced it was launching an investigation a DfE spokesman said: “Fraud cases are now reported directly to Action Fraud – not local police forces.

“For completeness we also alerted West Yorkshire police, which in turn directed us to Action Fraud. The case was then passed to police at the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau to investigate, who decided no further action was required.”

The DfE, the Home Office, which is responsible for Action Fraud, and the City of London Police which runs the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau all failed to answer questions from the Yorkshire Post last night about West Yorkshire Police’s statement that the matter had been recorded as being for information only and not as an alleged crime.

The revelations contained in last week’s EFA report into the Kings Science Academy are an embarassing blow to the Government’s free school programme amid tensions within the coalition about whether these schools should be allowed to employ unqualified teachers.

Kings Science Academy was one of the first three free schools to open in the region in 2011. The secondary school was visited and praised by Prime Minister David Cameron last year.

The EFA report into its finances identified £86,335 given to the school by the DfE which had not been used for what it was intended. The redacted document further revealed someone at the school admitted to the DfE that some invoices were fabricated. It said Kifsa Ltd, the trust responsible for the King’s Science Academy, had created invoices for rent that they did not pay. The EFA report also found the trust had claimed National Insurance (NI) contributions for four members of staff but no record could be found of NI payments being made to HM Revenue and customs.

A statement on the school’s website last week concerning finance and governance said: “There has been no misappropriation of funds and all expenditure has been academy related.”