Do you, as a taxpayer, want to know exactly how much individual free schools have cost you over recent years, given that this is a flagship government education policy that seems likely to feature in the Conservatives’ manifesto?

The oversight of thousands of publicly-funded academy schools, which once operated under the auspices of their local authorities but are now subject to semi-private management by charitable trusts, is a mess.

Just over a year ago, I met someone who until recently had been at the heart of government policymaking on education.

By education journalist Warwick Mansell