Bright Tribe Trust, in charge of Colchester Academy, features on Panorama

Tomorrow’s episode of the BBC’s Panorama will see reporters referencing a number of trusts, including the Bright Tribe Trust which has sponsored Colchester Academy since 2015.

During the programme, titled Profits before Pupils? The Academies Scandal, Labour councillors Tim and Julie Young are interviewed about the history of the academy trust.

The programme says more than 7,000 schools in England have been turned into academies and are now run by private trusts.

The people in charge are not supposed to profit from education.

In the programme BBC reporter Bronagh Munro investigates a businessman whose companies have been paid millions from school budgets, and asks whether it is the pupils who are paying the price.

In June 2016, the trust, which runs the academy in Hawthorn Avenue, Colchester, was investigated by the Government amid concerns over payments to private companies.

A Sunday newspaper had suggested sponsor boss Michael Dwan had regularly paid companies, which he was listed as a director for, to provide services for the academies run by the Trust.

As a result, Colchester MP Will Quince wrote to then Education Secretary Nicky Morgan.

Lord John Nash, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Schools, said the auditors did not raise any issues on the 2014/15 accounts.

Following an Education Funding Agency review, however, it was felt related party transactions should be included in the accounts and as a result, the Government worked with the Trust to make these disclosures in a revised set of accounts.

Within days of Bright Tribe taking over as sponsor, on April 1, 2015, head teacher Barry Hersom was replaced.

During a meeting which saw Bright Tribe put forward as the preferred sponsor for the school, Mrs Young voted against a motion to back the trust’s plans.

Tim and Julie Young could not talk about their interviews ahead of the Panorama programme which is being aired on Monday on BBC One starting at 8.30pm.