MPs criticise "unclear" role of Regional Schools Commissioners

Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) occupy an increasingly powerful position in the education system but their role is “unclear, even to key partners in the education sector”, MPs have claimed.

Eight RSCs were appointed in 2014 with responsibility for approving and monitoring academies and free schools in their region.

In a report the Education Committee argued that more work was needed to improve the transparency, accountability and working relationships of the commissioners.

The MPs also suggested that, “given the increasingly complicated system of oversight, accountability and inspection in the education system”, a more fundamental reassessment of accountability and oversight for all schools would be needed in the future.

Responding to the report, Cllr Roy Perry, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said the LGA was opposed to “significant powers relating to education being given to an unelected body with parents and residents unable to hold it to account at the ballot box."

In its report the committee said:

• RSCs must to do more to develop their working relationships with schools, local authorities, Ofsted, local communities, and other partners “to ensure the current model delivers results on school improvement”;
• RSC decision-making frameworks should be published, and the role of their advisory boards should be set out more clearly. “The Government also needs to re-examine the accountability of the RSCs themselves”;
• The current design of the Regional School Commissioner regions was itself a barrier to effective operation. “The fact that London is divided between three regions creates more problems than benefits.” A single London Regional School Commissioner should therefore be introduced and RSC regions across England should match Ofsted regions. The committee added that any devolution in the future to areas such as Greater Manchester might require a dedicated RSC;
• The impact of RSCs should be considered in terms of the improvement in young people's education and outcomes, rather than merely the volume of academy conversions or other levels of activity. “This approach would mirror the way in which the effectiveness of local authorities is measured, such as the number of children attending ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ schools";
• The Government’s review of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for RSCs should eliminate potential conflicts of interest and provide assurance that RSC decisions are made in the interests of school improvement rather than to fulfil specific targets for the number of academies;
• To improve accountability and transparency, the Government should produce an annual report on the work of RSCs, showing each RSC's performance against all of their (revised) KPIs and their targets, and should undertake to publish online regular performance.

Neil Carmichael MP, chair of the Education Committee said: "For too long, and under all parties, the Department for Education has made changes to structures without setting out the big picture. Regional Schools Commissioners were introduced as a pragmatic response to a problem – the growing number of academies and the need for oversight of them. They’re doing a necessary job, but the oversight system is now confused, fragmented, and lacking in transparency.

“It’s hardly surprising that most people have never heard of RSCs, and even those who have are unclear about their role. RSCs are a product of the Department’s ‘acting first, thinking later’ approach when it comes to big changes in the schools landscape. The DfE needs to take a long hard look at this picture once the number of academies stabilises, and design a more coherent system for the future which ensures proper accountability for schools."

Cllr Perry said: "Councils remain concerned that Regional Schools Commissioners still lack the capacity and local knowledge to have oversight of such a large, diverse and remote range of schools. Having their geographical boundaries set differently to Ofsted’s is also very confusing for parents, who still turn to their council for support and advice on their child's education.

"With more than 80% of council maintained schools rated as either good or outstanding by Ofsted, councils want to be regarded as improvement partners and support Commissioners. Across the country, hundreds of schools, often in disadvantaged areas, are already being turned around thanks to the intervention of councils to deliver and maintain strong leadership and outstanding classroom teaching and appoint effective support staff and governors.”