The Whitehall agency responsible for managing finances of academy schools must ‘get to grips' with oversight of how the cash is spent and establish a ‘fit and proper person test' for academy chief executives and trustees, a Commons watchdog has warned.

A report issued today by the Public Accounts Committee into the financial statements of the Education Funding Agency and its parent department the Department for Education, expressed concerns individuals were gaining financially from close relations to academy schools and their suppliers.