Welcome to our Autumn 2010 Academies and Independent Schools ebulletin.  The changes currently affecting schools are virtually unprecedented and so we have tried in this bulletin to provide insight into key issues.

Following the Comprehensive Spending Review announcement on 20 October, each Department has now published its business plan. These plans set out the Department’s priorities and start to put dates to the actions. However, there is no further detail on the financial aspects. The education white paper is due out by the end of Novmeber. We will publish a briefing note as soon as it is available.

The DfE plan sets out six structural reform priorities:

• increase the number of high quality schools and introduce fair funding
  - In the actions the stall is quite clearly set out for an increase in the number of new style institutions, be they academies, free schools or university technical colleges. 
  - The liberal democrat proposals for a pupil premium for disadvantages pupils have been incorporated into plans and some £2.5 billion is being set aside for this area. The detail has yet to be worked out but discussions include possible links to free school meals.
• reform the school curriculum and qualifications
• reduce bureaucracy and improve accountability
• train and develop the professionals who work with children
• introduce new support for Early Years
• improve support for children, young people and families, focusing on the most disadvantaged

Governors and senior management teams will be under pressure to produce good results (academic and financial) in very difficult circumstances. In this Education Bulletin we offer food for thought, alongside practical advice.

We hope you find these articles useful, if you feel others within your organisations would like to receive our briefings, please direct them to our registration page on the website

In this issue

Mergers and Acquisitions for schools: no longer a remote theory but a real opportunity
Mergers and Acquisitions for schools are no longer remote but a real opportunity. Jim Clifford explains how they can add to pupils’ experience whilst cutting risk and building value for the school.

Hot topics from academies discussion groups
Baker Tilly has initiated a series of discussion groups for academies, aimed primarily but not exclusively at finance directors. We highlight here some of the hot topics from those groups.

Is the academies programme achieving its objectives?  Indeed, are its objectives clear?
The National Audit Office (NAO) published a report in September 2010 on the performance of existing academies in meeting the original programme objectives. There are some clear recommendations for the Department for Education (DfE) and the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) as the programme expands. The Public Accounts Committee took evidence on the report at their meeting on 27 October 2010; the report and evidence generally being well received.

Independent schools affected by VAT package
Many independent schools receiving international supplies of services are affected by the ‘VAT package’, which is a set of European measures that took effect across the entire European Union from 1 January 2010.

Are you acting responsibly?
With the absence of an internal audit function in many academies, the role of ensuring that financial responsibilities are being discharged properly falls to the Responsible Officer – but are you sure that you know what that role entails?

Learning Lessons for beyond the recession
Times continue to be hard for independent schools; we look at some planning principles for staying afloat.