Yet the system “has been accused of being Byzantine and financially inefficient and there have been complaints about a lack of accountability”, says the BBC.

Today, 66% of secondary schools and 29% of primaries are academies, and another 1,000 conversions in the pipeline. The Co-op itself sponsors its own multi-academy trust running 13 academies nationwide, with plans to take on more. “There are 37 ‘Labour and Co-operative’ MPs - but when it comes to schools policy, the Labour and Co-operative parts of their title seem to be pulling in completely different directions,” the news site adds. The issue is a fraught one within the party, as “dozens of its own MPs are part of a group opening academies and planning to become one of England’s biggest academy providers”, the BBC reports. Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner told the Labour conference last month that academies and free schools “neither improve standards nor empower staff or parents”. Arms companies promoting brands in UK schools.

Consacademy