"There are currently no plans, and even if there were

Nick Clegg has made it clear they would be blocked". 

So, what plans that are not currently likely to become ‘active’ are we talking about?   

They would be what we must now refer to as unsubstantiated rumours published in the Indie which suggested that Michael Gove felt it was not enough that the standards of publicly funded education should be improved by converting "schools" into “sponsored academies” with the curriculum and school ethos being set by the "sponsors", who might indeed have to cough up some funding, but not necessarily the lions share, as "the state" would continue to provide that;  or by allowing concerned parents to establish their own “free schools” - 'all-ability state-funded schools set up in response to what local people say they want and need in order to improve education for children in their community' - but that these academies and the free schools should also be unburdened of any regulations that prevent the sponsors and concerned parents from being able to turn a profit from their concerns about education.

The now firmly established as unsubstantiated rumour was disclosed by the Indie yesterday under the headline Revealed: Gove's secret plans to let hedge funds and venture capitalists cash in on schools  and the rumour “leaked by Department for Education insiders concerned that he is going too fast and too far” was that “Academies and free schools should become profit-making businesses using hedge funds and venture capitalists to raise money, according to private plans being drawn up by the Education Secretary, Michael Gove”.

Today the Standard is reporting that “Nick Clegg clashed with Cabinet rival Michael Gove today after claims that the Education Secretary is planning a new breed of profit-making schools. The Deputy Prime Minister’s office warned that the Liberal Democrats would veto any policy that allowed private companies to run schools for gain in the state sector. “Our position is crystal clear on this,” said a spokesman. “While the Liberal Democrats are in government there will be no profit-making whatever in our schools”.    

And it is anyway reported that “However Downing Street has since insisted that there were “no plans” to allow profit-making in public sector schools”, and therefore Nick and Michael were spatting over a policy that doesn’t exist.

Well with that cleared up, there still remains the matter of another “rumoured” or it could be “wished for in certain quarters” supposed plan of Michael’s also mentioned in yesterday’s Indie article, which thus far no one appears to have denied or quashed:-

In a further radical measure aimed at boosting the economic attraction of academies, the Education Secretary is also examining proposals for academy schools who control large sites to be able to sell off or sub-let former council-owned land, with the money used to rebuild or improve schools.

Other academy executives admitted one of the most politically sensitive plans being looked at by the DfE, is a change to the legal agreement which governs how state-owned land, leased generally on a 125 years basis to academies, cannot be disposed of without the permission of the freeholder, usually a local authority.

Councils need the permission of the secretary of state to dispose of school land, including where land converts to an academy. Legal restrictions prevent academy trusts from disposing of leasehold land if it ceases to be used as a school. The rules say the secretary of state's decision on any land disposal needs to "fair and just".

One executive said : "If Mr Gove wants to free up the academy programme - and he does - then to do this properly, he will have to loosen up the rules on the disposal of land. Some academy sites have sites bigger than they need and selling of a bit might allow academies to have great buildings. For those worried this is asset-stripping or profit-at-all costs, performance targets for academies could justify these changes."

Any proposal from the DfE for a partial sell-off of land leased to academies, worth tens of billions of pounds, would be one of Mr Gove's most controversial proposals and likely to become a key election issue.

As one observer commented “Seems like a great scheme - property developer "sponsors" academy, i.e. is paid money by the government to sponsor it and then pinches the tastiest part of the site for knocking up a few executive villas or something”.     

A double plus good scheme then, providing first and foremost some “school improvement funds” and also providing some superior housing on the doorstep, improving the quality of potential pupils within a very local catchment area at the same time.   Both of which would you might think bode well on the "turning a profit from this" front.

Unless of course, sadly, there is no substance to that part of the rumour either.  We can only hope that Number 10, or Nick, or even Michael issue a "clarification or denial" in the near future.