MP: Where has this extra money come from?

The Bedford and Kempston MP responded today after HEART Academies Trust announced that they were extending their ‘pause’ on plans to make headteachers at three Bedford primary schools redundant along with other senior staff.

The Labour MP was unimpressed to see that the trust had employed an outside agency to lead their public relations; the trust is sponsored by the Harpur Trust who have previously been liaising with the media on this issue.

Mr Yasin said: “I’m surprised that the leadership of Heart MAT – who still maintain that these changes are in party motivated by efficiency savings – are communicating through a specialist in PR crisis management.

“An organisation that truly believed in its vision wouldn’t need to employ a third party to spin it for them.

“Trust is clearly an issue here – parents & students who came to meet me in Westminster on Tuesday were very clear about that, and I can’t see how this arms-length approach to communications will help to restore it.”