Possible Commons Committee probe of Bradford free school fraud

The Public Accounts Committee – famous for its tough probing of tax dodging by major corporations – will be asked to examine the controversy at Kings Science Academy in Lidget Green .

It raises the prospect of public hearings at Westminster to examine the misuse of almost £77,000 of taxpayers’ cash, which was exposed in a shock Government report.

Payments went towards teachers' furniture, with more than £600 spent on parties or meals and £169 given to an employee to buy clothes, auditors found.

Meanwhile, two Cabinet ministers – Home Secretary Theresa May and Education Secretary Michael Gove – have been dragged into the controversial handling of the investigation.

They will be asked to explain why West Yorkshire Police was not asked to hold a fraud inquiry until seven months after the evidence first emerged, last April.

The latest developments came as both Bradford West MP George Galloway (Respect) and Bradford East MP David Ward (Lib Dem) vowed to get to the bottom of the scandal.

In a letter to Mr Galloway, Chief Constable Mark Gilmore confirmed the West Yorkshire force was not informed about the fraud allegations at Kings Science Academy.

Mr Gilmore said the Department for Education, in April, merely called in the Action Fraud centre, adding: “This was not sent to WYP, either as information or for investigation”.

Embarrassingly for the Dfe, this directly contradicts its statement, in a written parliamentary answer, that the force was contacted by telephone on April 25.

Edward Timpson, Under Secretary of State for Education, told Mr Galloway: “The West Yorkshire police directed that fraud, or suspected fraud, should be reported via Action Fraud.”

The Bradford West MP immediately tabled another question for Mr Gove, demanding an explanation for the statement – explicitly rejected by Mr Gilmore. It was only last Friday that WYP started it after being asked to by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau.