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OUTRAGE OVER FUTURE PLANS FOR ACADEMY
Labour slam decision to select major Tory donor as sponsor
A VENTURE capitalist and Conservative party donor is set to take control of Pimlico School.
John Nash’s charity Future was this week named as the preferred sponsor for the community school.
A final decision will be taken on Monday in a meeting at City Hall.
A spokesman for Future said they would be “delighted to sponsor Pimlico School as we passionately believe in the power of education to transform the lives of young people”.
But Padraic Finn, secretary for Westminster NUT, said: “This represents a further step in the privatisation of public services.”
John Nash is a former chairman of the British Venture Capital Association and chairman of leading private equity provider Sovereign Capital.
He was pivotal in raising funds for the Conservative leadership challenge by Shadow Home Secretary David Davis in 2005.
He sat on former leader Iain Duncan Smith’s working party with Maida Vale Conservative councillor Lee Rowley.
Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg, leader of the Labour Group, accused Conservative schools chiefs of political back-scratching.
He said: “It is absolutely outrageous that the Conservatives are handing over control of Pimlico School to prominent Conservative supporters.
“It is a scandal that John Nash’s Conservative connections are not mentioned in the council cabinet report. What else has the council got to hide about the deal which has been done with the Future charity?”
In its expression of interest, Future states it will make full use Alpha Plus, a successful management business involved in the private education sector.
The chief investor of Alpha Plus is Mr Nash’s company Sovereign Capital.
Westminster schools chief Cllr Sarah Richardson said: “We have no interest in how John Nash spent the rest of his money. Through his company, Mr Nash is involved in the running a number of highly successful schools and colleges and was one of the potential sponsors recommended to us by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
“There is no political dimension to this proposal. Anyway, it will be for Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, to give final approval to the plan.”
She added: “Parents will have the chance during the consultation period to hear about Future’s plans for the school.”
The last consultation over Pimlico School was flatly ignored by Cllr Richardson who backed the academy plan despite 96 per cent of nearly 300 parents and teachers “consulted” opposing the academy plan.
Pimlico was put on special measures in December 2006. The Ofsted bombshell allowed the council to replace the board of governors with a council-led interim executive board (IEB).
The original parent governors had for 10 years resisted repeated attempts to privatise the school under a Private Finance Initiative scheme in 1999.
By installing the IEB, the governors’ staunch objection to any privatisation plan was side-stepped.
The school is being rebuilt as apart of a major £35 million investment under the Building Schools for the Future project.
The new school is expected to be open by September 2010. |
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