UNITED LEARNING TRUST (ULT)

The United Learning Trust is a not for profit subsidiary of the Church Schools Companyinvolved in the development of Academies in Manchester, Lambeth and Northampton.ULT's objective is to manage schools which

'offer students a high quality educationbased on Christian principles of service and tolerance' 

The Church Schools Company was founded as an educational charity in 1883 with theprincipal objective of creating schools that would offer pupils a good academic educationbased on Christian principles. The Church Schools Company set up the subsidiaryUnited Learning Trust, which shares its head office address, specifically to manageAcademies.The Church Schools Company was recently renamed United Church Schools Trust(UCST). UCST employs in the region of 1200 people, of whom 650 are teachers.UCST currently owns and manages twelve schools across the country. All are governedby the Governing Council of the Company, supported by a local governing body at eachschool with the exception of Caterham, which is governed by a separate body of Trustees, the majority of whom are appointed by the United Church Schools Trust.

United Learning Trust Board MembersSir Ewan Harper 

is Chief Executive of both the United Church Schools Trust and theUnited Learning Trust. He was knighted in 2003 for services to the Church of England.He is very much the public face of both organisations. He was an oral witness to theHouse of Commons and Lords Joint Committee on the Draft Charities Bill – arguing for maintenance of charitable status for independent schools. The full minutes of hisevidence are available to download from

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200304/jtselect/jtchar/167/4063008.htm

Sir Ewan Harper appears to have no other outside interests, unlike other members of theULT Board. The only other reference to activity by him is his attendance at an event in2003 in support of the Entertainment Software Charity, at which Tony Blair launched theproposed expansion of the Academies programme. Founded in 2000, ESC was created”

to use the popularity of gaming to help give back to those less fortunate. The not-for- profit charity was established by prominent members of the gaming community to createa dedicated initiative programme to advance young people through play, training and education.

“ there does not appear to be an formal involvement between Sir Ewan andESC however.

Mr John Beardwell TD MA FSI is

also Deputy Chairman of the United Church SchoolsTrust.John Beardwell

 

holds a Securities and Investment Institute Fellowship, which isdescribed as “

the pinnacle of membership, demonstrating an outstanding commitment tothe financial services industry.

“ A former senior Compliance Officer in the private clientfield, having worked for a number of firms as a private client investment adviser, hespecialised in the area of compliance with Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite Ltd, retiringrecently as their Compliance Officer.

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Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite Ltd was the result of the amalgamation of three LondonStock Exchange businesses. Since 1997 the companies have been owned byInvestec,the international specialist banking group.CSC is a private client stock broking firm which provides discretionary, non-discretionaryand advisory services to private clients and charities. About two thirds of CSC's businessis discretionary, and about one third of its business is advisory. The firm employs over 300 employees in four regional offices.Its website claims “We have over 70 years’ experience of helping charities and currentlylook after more than 400 with investments totalling over £800 million. We identified theneed for an investment vehicle specifically designed for charities allowing them accessto professional property investment but avoiding the time and expense of propertyadministration.”The result of this work with charities was the Charities Property Fund, the first CommonInvestment Fund which enabled all charities under English law to invest in thecommercial property market. Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite handles more than 30properties ranging in size from £3 million to £12 million on behalf of charities: it isunclear, however, whether this includes those owned by ULT.In May 2004, the Financial Services Authority fined Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite£500,000 for serious failings in its compliance function, leading to breaches of the FSAPrinciples and Rules. The failings arose because CSC failed to keep fully up to date withregulatory developments after the creation of the FSA. Most of the failings wereidentified by the FSA during the course of visits in July and August 2003.John Beardwell

 

has served on several specialist committees for the Securities andFutures Authority (SFA), the Securities Institute and the Association of Private ClientInvestment Managers and Stockbrokers as well as acting as a practitioner member for SFA Disciplinary and Authorisation Tribunals and the SFA Consumer ArbitrationScheme.

The Rt Rev and Rt Hon The Lord Carey of Clifton

is the former 

 

Archbishop of Canterbury.

Geoffrey Davies

is a

 

former partner of law firm Lewis Silkin, which he joined inSeptember 2000, merging his own practice, which focussed on corporate andcommercial advice to clients ranging from large publishing houses to softwaredevelopment and industrial companies with the larger company. He set up his ownpractice in January 1991, having worked as a partner for 16 years at Titmuss Sainer (now Dechert) where he headed one of the firm’s two corporate finance teams.Lewis Silkin is a 30-partner commercial law firm based in central London. The firmdelivers its services through ten divisions: Construction, Corporate Services,Defamation, Employment, Housing and project finance, Litigation and dispute resolution,Marketing services, Property, Sport and Technology and communications. Its clientsrange from large corporations and PLCs to entrepreneurs and come from a wide rangeof sectors, including advertising, social housing and property, government agencies andcorporate financiers. It is a signatory to Liberty’s statement for justice and security.

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Rt Hon Frank Field MP

is

 

the

 

Labour MP for Birkenhead. He voted against anamendment opposing the creation of foundation hospitals in 2003 and against anamendment to require faith schools to take 25 per cent of pupils from other backgroundsin 2002.He has been a member of the public accounts committee since 2001 and was Minister of State, Department of Social Security from 1997 – 1998. He holds one remunerateddirectorships, for Medicash Health Benefits Ltd. His previous occupations includecompany director; author/writer; and teacher On 18 Nov 2004 he asked the following Parliamentary question:

“To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether schools which (a)have already gained specialist status and (b) are involved in private financeinitiative projects may apply for academy status.” 

Whether he asked this question on behalf of ULT is unclear.

Fiona Gilmore

is the founding partner and Chief Executive of Acanchi, a London basedindependent consultancy which specialises in strategy development for country brands.She was formerly head of brand and corporate identity design consultancy Springpoint.She has advised on communications, strategy, brand positioning, architecture,innovation, migration, internal communication and identity for companies such asVodafone, Unilever, and Armani, as well as a selection of countries such as Hong Kong,England, Lebanon and Zambia. She has had extensive experience working in China andthe region where, she has advised the Hong Kong government on how to develop abrand strategy for the country, post handover. The company advised the UKGovernment on the reorganization of the Commonwealth Development Committee in2003.Acanchi is a Soho-based private limited company with partners in Beijing and Moscowand was launched during the summer of 2003. According to its website, Acanchi

“

believes that motivational energies, whether in a collective, a company or a country canbe released and channelled, if cultural, political, social and psychological barriers arebroken down and if the cultural values are attuned closely with the business plan; our term for this is corporate acupuncture….It believes in trying to influence the way business is done. Social responsibility is central to that. We practise what we preach: for example, ten per cent of our profits will be committed to a chosen charity. Next year, that will be WaterAid. We like to work with partners who share our enthusiasm for social responsibility, for example, 20% of our time will be dedicated to non-profit making business, focusing on developing countries in Africa

. “

Edward Gould

was formerly master of Marlborough College and chairman of theHeadmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference from 2002-2000. He was educated atOxford and taught at Harrow School from 1967-1983 before becoming head teacher of Felsted School in Essex until 1993 when he became master of Marlborough. He is onthe governing council of the Independent Schools Council, founded the BoardingEducation Alliance and is a member of the Secondary Heads Association. He is also afellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a fellow of the Royal Society for Arts,Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA). He was appointed to the board of theQualifications and Curriculum Authority in December 2002.

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