We have previously reported on the limited sanctions at the Department’s disposal to sanction trust leaders who may be responsible for malpractice, including misuse of funds, across the sector. In our 2019 report on academy accounts and performance, we were concerned that the Department did not have an effective regime to sanction the academy trustees and leaders who were responsible for serious failings at trusts.85 The Department has since set out the powers available, including through other regulators, notably the Charity Commission and Insolvency Service.86 However, as the Charity Commission highlighted to us previously, the Department is the principal regulator for the academy sector, which is in practice managed and undertaken by the ESFA.87 The Department has its own powers under section 128 of the Education and Skills Act 2008, to sanction individuals engaged in misconduct by barring them from involvement in the management of education institutions.88 The Department told us that it took very seriously any instances of individuals acting inappropriately as a trustee of an academy trusts and that it had used its section 128 powers against 10 individuals. The use of these powers therefore appears to require quite a high bar and we asked the Department what other levers it had available to it to prevent an individual from moving from one trust to another where there had been concerns about their performance as a trustee. The Department and ESFA confirmed that the main mechanism for this was its section 128 powers, but that it could also work with the Charity Commission. They told us that they considered trusts were required to be very transparent in terms of who was on their board, and a high level of diligence in appointing trustees.89 83 Letter from Susan Acland-Hood, Permanent Secretary, Department for Education, to Dame Meg Hillier Chair of Committee of Public Accounts, PAC: 2019–20 Academies Sector Annual Report and Accounts, 1 February 2022; referencing t