Calls for inquiry into Government action at Bradford fraud school

TEACHERS’ union NUT has called for an inquiry into the government’s dealings at the Bradford school that was hit by a fraud scandal this week.

The National Union of Teachers said that the actions of Sajid Raza, 43, his sister Shabana Hussain, 40, and finance director Daud Khan, 44 in diverting £150,000 of Department of Education funds into their own bank accounts was “disgraceful”.

But the union said there were questions surrounding the actions of the Department of Education and the Education Funding Agency at Kings academy, one of Michael Gove’s first free schools.

The NUT said that “insufficient due diligence” was completed on the staff and that there were “serious concerns” about failures at the highest level in the Department.

Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers,, said: “In the haste to open the school, it is clear that insufficient due diligence was carried out on the individuals establishing this school, particularly in light of the revelations made in the course of this trial that the school’s founder and former Principal had financial problems.

“Having reported the school to the police when these revelations first came to light in 2013, the DfE did not follow up their initial complaint after they were informed that it had been (wrongly as it transpired) classified as requiring no further police action.

“The DfE believed that Alan Lewis, a former vice chair of the Conservative Party under former Prime Minister David Cameron, was the chair of governors – something Mr Lewis subsequently denied, meaning the school was operating without a chair of governors in its first year. The DfE also needs to give assurances that the near £6m paid to Mr Lewis by the EFA for the 20-year lease on the land occupied by the school represents the best value for money.”