Birmingham City Council has welcomed Government plans for an education commissioner in the city, who will oversee local improvement.
Following publication of two reports into allegations of extremism in Birmingham schools, education secretary Nick Morgan told Parliament she would ‘not hesitate’ to take further action if improvement was not shown at the local authority.
A review conducted by former head of counter terrorism at Scotland Yard, Peter Clarke, this week said Birmingham had failed to deal with problems or complaints properly.
While finding no evidence of extremism, Clarke’s report found evidence of ‘a number of people associated with each other and in positions of influence in schools and governing bodies who espouse, sympathise with or fail to challenge extremist views’.
It was published just days after a review by former headteacher Ian Kershaw, which found no evidence of a conspiracy to promote extremism yet pointed to ‘serious malpractice’ among some school governing bodies.
Responding to the reports, Morgan announced plans for a new education commissioner within the city council to oversee its actions.
‘I will appoint a new education commissioner within the council to oversee its actions to address the fundamental criticisms in the Kershaw and Clarke reports, while building resilience in the system as a whole,’ Morgan said.
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: ‘I welcome the appointment of an education commissioner, who will report to both the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, and Birmingham City Council’s chief executive, Mark Rogers. We will work closely with the Department for Education on making that appointment.
‘We have had a very positive experience working with the commissioner for children’s safeguarding, Lord Norman Warner, and we look forward to an equally constructive relationship with the new education commissioner.
‘We have already accepted all of the recommendations in Ian Kershaw’s report and believe we are already making progress on most of the recommendations set out in Peter Clarke’s report.
‘In addition, we are already working on a number of key areas such as strengthening governor appointments and training and our whistleblowing process and reporting, as well as continuing our work in reviewing our relationship with all schools.’
