Conservative Diary

« Francis Maude declares the Coalition Government as more radical than Thatcher in her first term | Main | How low can the Liberal Democrats go? »

Charity director slams quango for bullying

By Paul Goodman

Partnerships for Schools (PFS), the quango which compiled the error-strewn Building Schools for the Future project list, has been in hot water recently.  Tim Byles, its Chief Executive, faced calls to resign after it was revealed that he earns twice as much as the Prime Minister.  Now a charity director, speaking to ConservativeHome, has slammed its conduct as "inexcusable".

Ian Fordham, the Deputy Director of British Council for School Environments (BCSE) - an education charity set up to promote best practice in school design - says that he was contacted by PFS and asked to withdraw comments that BCSE had given to a Policy Exchange report that contained accusations of PFS being a "bullying quango" and "marching round the country in their jackboots, telling local authorities what to do".

Fordham said: “We were one of those organisations asked to retract what we had said in key sections of the report. I think Partnerships for Schools have been consistently defensive and lacking transparency. In ten years of working in the voluntary sector and with government organisations, I have never known behaviour like this – it is inexcusable”.

Phone calls to a number of construction industry professionals demanding that they retract their comments to Policy Exchange are understood to have been made by Amy Leonard, PSF's Director of Corporate Affairs and Head of Press.  She also helps to lead the Transformation Trust, a charity which has received funding and sponsorship from companies in the design sector.

One source told ConservativeHome: "In my view, there's a conflict of interest here, and it's worth noting that Tim Byles is a trustee of the Transformation Trust."  After the BSF fiasco, some blamed the quango for repeatedly providing inaccurate information, others Michael Gove for not checking the information, and other both.

But whatever one's view, PSF's reaction to the Policy Report raises questions about whether it's appropriate for a taxpayer-funded organisation to respond to criticism in this way.

Comments

You must be logged in using Intense Debate, Wordpress, Twitter or Facebook to comment.