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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Q. Is the Schools Commissioner accountable?
A. The Schools Commissioner is a Senior Civil Servant within the Department. He is accountable to Ministers and bound by the Civil Service Code.
Q. Is the Office of the Schools Commissioner separate from the Department?
A. No. The Office of the Schools Commissioner is a team within the Department responsible for supporting the work of the Schools Commissioner.
Q. Is the Schools Commissioner the same as the Children’s Commissioner?
A. No. The Children’s Commissioner heads an independent organisation set up by parliament to give a voice to children and young people as part of the Children’s Act (2004).
Q. Why is the Schools Commissioner not mentioned in the Children’s Act?
A. The appointment of the Schools Commissioner was simply an internal civil service appointment and did not require any legislative change. However, the Schools Commissioner will have a role in monitoring and enforcing many of the statutory duties that are contained in the Act.
Q. Does the Schools Commissioner have statutory powers?
A. The Schools Commissioner has no statutory powers of his own. He advises the Secretary of State on the exercise of his powers.
Q. What are the key functions of the Schools Commissioner?
A. To act as a dedicated point of contact for organisations wishing to support schools and schools themselves. As a national champion for trust schools, the Commissioner will help reduce bureaucracy for schools and their partner organisations and spread good practice throughout the system.
To promote choice and diversity in the provision of school places by challenging and supporting local authorities in their modernised role as commissioners of education and by championing the development of trust schools. The Commissioner will also scrutinise local authorities’ plans for capital investment to ensure that they are focused on delivering choice, diversity and excellence.
To advise the Secretary of State on the exercise of her powers of intervention where progress is proving unsatisfactory.
Q. How does the Schools Commissioner interact with local authorities?
A. The Schools Commissioner supports and challenges local authorities to fulfil their duties under the Act, in particular the duties to promote diversity and choice and to respond to representations from parents.
Q. Does that mean that the Schools Commissioner forces local authorities to have Academies?
A. The Schools Commissioner promotes the Academies programme to local authorities as one of the range of solutions to poorly performing schools. The Schools Commissioner will work with local authorities to agree the best solution for their area.
Q. Will local authorities be forced to have trust schools?
A. It is a school’s governing body that takes the decision to be a trust and though a local authority can consider and promote, they cannot force a school to become a trust school.
Q. Won’t the Schools Commissioner add another layer of bureaucracy?
A. The creation of a distinct post of Commissioner will deliver efficiencies by focusing and streamlining existing activity and ensuring that the reforms outlined in the White Paper, Higher Standards, Better Schools for All, are implemented in a co-ordinated way. The Schools Commissioner will ensure that the Department works with local authorities, school promoters and trusts in a joined-up and focused way to help deliver a transformed school system.
Q. What is the difference between the Schools Commissioner and the Schools Adjudicator?
A. The Schools Adjudicator is an independent statutory office holder appointed to carry out two key specific functions. These are to consider and make decisions on objections to schools' admission arrangements and to determine some proposals to set up, close or make changes to schools.
In carrying out these functions, the Adjudicator acts independently of the Government. The Schools Adjudicator also has new powers to resolve disputes between local authorities and schools about the disposal of publicly funded non-playing field land.
