London: How seriously has the Department for Education taken the report by the former counter-terrorism officer Peter Clarke on Birmingham’s “Trojan horse” affair, which it commissioned? The DfE has yet to respond to all the recommendations, including one that has some relevance very close to home.

Clarke’s recommendation 12 says: “Unless there are genuinely exceptional circumstances, there should be a presumption that an individual will only be a governor of a maximum of two schools.” This, says the report, is “so that no single individual has undue influence over a number of schools”.

We can think of someone who has been chair of the trustees at an academy trust while also being chair of governors at one of the trust’s four schools, and also co-chair of governors, with his wife, of a second and on the governing body of the other two.

Yes, step forward Lord Nash, who manages somehow to combine his governorship roles with running the Future academies chain and being, erm, the minister responsible for academies across England. Nash’s wife, Caroline, is also a governor at all four of Future’s schools, including being chair or co-chair at three of them.

This sounds like a lot of influence for one “individual” and his wife. So how will the DfE react? It’s “no comment” from them.

Academy transparency not quite clear yet

Meanwhile Clarke’s recommendation 7 points out that the DfE’s system of “brokerage” of academies should be reviewed “to make sure that it is transparent and understood by all parties”.

“Brokerage” is DfE jargon for the process by which officials line up a particular academy sponsor for a school; when a school is transferred between sponsors, it is called “re-brokerage”.

Any move to make this process more transparent would be music to many ears, especially those of parents fighting forced academy conversions. Currently, meetings between DfE brokers and governing bodies are not minuted, while the processes by which sponsors are selected and schools transferred between them seem shrouded in secrecy.

But will transparency happen? There was no mention in the official response to the Clarke report by Nicky Morgan, the new education secretary. When asked, the DfE says it is strengthening checks on academy conversions, and keeping these processes under review.

Border crossing row

It is an unpredictable tale. But the saga of Parkfield free school, currently located in central Bournemouth but shortly to move to a site right next to the town’s airport, has now taken a turn no one could have guessed.

Tory-controlled Dorset county council said on Friday it was having its capital funding for “basic need” school building work cut by £4.1 million (Dh25.51 million) this year because Parkfield, in its desperation for a permanent site, is to transfer over the local authority border from Bournemouth into Dorset.

The DfE was to cut funding for other Dorset schools because it saw Parkfield as new provision, said the council. However, Toni Coombs, a Conservative who is the council’s cabinet member for education, believes that few Dorset pupils will go to Parkfield, partly because of its location away from the county’s population centres.

“We are very disappointed,” she says. “Over the next five years, Dorset needs to find money for an extra 53 primary classrooms. That is a lot of children potentially being affected by this cut.” DfE data shows that Parkfield, an “all-through” school with a Montessori ethos, which opened in September, had only 277 pupils as of January.

However, as we were going to press, the DfE denied Dorset’s budget was being cut, saying “we have decided not to take back any of the funding we had announced for the authority” although this could be reviewed in future years.

Protest at suspension of teachers’ union rep

Finally, nearly 1,000 people have signed an online petition of support for a well-known union official suspended by the council as a representative of teachers in Haringey, north London.

Julie Davies, local secretary of the National Union of Teachers, has reportedly been suspended by Haringey council for “gross misconduct”, although the council has not commented officially.

Reports have alleged the action came after Davies, an elected official for more than 10 years, sent an email to a councillor about her rubbish bins not being collected, while the council claims that headteachers have complained about Davies.

It is unclear what the suspension means, as technically Davies is not employed by the council, but by her school. The NUT, which organised the petition, has questioned the suspension’s legality, saying that headteachers should not be able to dictate whom NUT members choose to represent them.

The council says it cannot comment; and Davies is barred from speaking to the press.