Academy trusts should publish how much they spend on central teams and how much autonomy their schools have, a think tank has said. A report says an online dashboard containing such information would allow headteachers to make informed decision about joining trusts. Written by Mark Lehain, a former special adviser to the education secretary, the study found heads have been 鈥減ut off conversion鈥 by the 鈥渟ignificant effort鈥 needed to gather the data themselves. Mark Lehain It also urged the government to fork out as much 拢600,000 on a 鈥淭inder for trusts鈥 to match them with schools. But sector leaders have warned the proposals would not be a silver bullet 鈥 as they stressed the suitability of trusts 鈥渃annot be assessed from data alone鈥. Lehain said the proposals would 鈥渕ake it as easy as possible for schools that are keen to join a trust to actually find one鈥. 鈥淭his would give them the information they need to start talking to potential partners and understand each other through their due diligence. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all about reducing the burden on individual heads or CEOs鈥 It would also provide greater accountability for trusts since there would be a publicly available set of metrics that permit comparison on a local or national scale.鈥 Dashboard should include ‘ethos’ of trusts The report suggested an 鈥渆xpert group of trust and school partners鈥 define 鈥渁 non-exhaustive but broad set of aspects鈥 to be collated. The information would be published in 鈥渁 searchable database, potentially as part of the 鈥榞et information about schools鈥 service鈥. He wanted the dashboard to contain 鈥渜ualitative鈥 metrics, such as the extent to which curriculums and policies are different across academies, and what school improvement support is provided by chains. 鈥淚t would also be important to have a description of the ethos and character of trusts. This would be especially important for faith schools to see how their ethos and character would be protected in a trust.鈥 Lehain added that figures comparing the proportion of funding spent on schools and central teams, as well as the sizes of their workforces, should also be collected. The academies accounts direction currently states MATs 鈥渕ust describe the types of central services provided to schools during the year鈥. But they aren鈥檛 obliged to include how many people are centrally employed. The Education Skills and Funding Agency admitted in April it had a 鈥渄ata gap鈥 and was reviewing whether to collect information on them. Of the 30 biggest trusts, 15 either did not list the information on their website or provide their central team numbers to Schools Week earlier this month. Ex-SpAd wants ‘MATchmaking’ scheme Meanwhile, Lehain reasoned his so-called 鈥淭inder for trusts鈥 or 鈥淢ATchmaking鈥 scheme would smooth the conversion and merger process. 鈥淚鈥檇 imagine there would a website. The costs of this programme would be relatively small 鈥 anything from 拢300,000-拢600,000 per year. 鈥淚t wouldn鈥檛 have to be a huge organisation with loads and loads of people 鈥 it鈥檇 only need a small team of people who really know their stuff and help it happen independent to the DfE.鈥 The academies regulatory and commissioning review noted the DfE needed 鈥渢o articulate what we mean by trust quality” to “make it easier for schools to see and realise the benefits of forming or joining” a MAT. Among the other recommendations Lehain puts forward are calls for a 鈥淒omesday Book鈥 of the state sector. He said this would create an accurate record of the employees, buildings and land across the state sector 鈥渢o make future conversions easier in terms of legalities鈥. He also told the government to create a 鈥減rocess for batch academisation of schools鈥 and 鈥渋ncrease the funding and support available for those joining or forming strong trusts鈥. However Mark Greatrex, who leads the 10-school Bellevue Place Education Trust, said 鈥渇urther onerous reporting is not what chains need to be spending their valuable time on鈥. Any details 鈥渂eyond the headline information which can be easily pulled together from existing reports鈥 would usually be given by trusts to schools considering conversions. The chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts, Leora Cruddas, said that while some of this data might be useful, 鈥渢he important thing is that there is a good fit and values-alignment鈥. 鈥淭his鈥s unlikely to be assessed via a third-party match-making service.鈥