Transparency and accountability

Dear Sir, - Your editorial in last week's Chronicle on the fi nancial arrangements at Congleton High School, Black Firs Primary and the Congleton MultiAcademy Trust raises as many questions as it answers.

I fi nd it interesting that you draw parallels with other local quasi-public bodies and their fi nancial accountability.

It seems to me that when public money is used, the standards of transparency and accountability should be the same whatever format of governance is used.

Of course, ideally the same levels of openness should apply to all private and charitable organisations, so it would not matter what model was being used.

Until that time, I would hope that anybody using public money would have to show the same high levels of clarity, regardless of their structure.

It is especially concerning if bodies using public money are using certain forms of governance so that money can be transferred between its different strands and this could affect the functioning of one of them detrimentally. - Yours faithfully,

(DR) PETER HIRST