Academies are great, but could give more back Academies developed creativity in their curriculum, and innovations such as a longer school day, or three year GCSEs, to allow a mix of practical and academic subjects. The programme enabled schools to bring in dynamic teaching and leadership. Combined with the attraction of high flying graduates through Teach First, academies often attracted some of the best Head Teachers. In Hackney, the rising tide of Mossbourne, combined with drive and leadership from the local authority, raised performance in all local schools - academies or not. Where once parents fought to get out of the local school system, they now fight to get in. This was the realisation of a comprehensive ideal - it was not only the kids from the local estate who fought for a place, but the children of middle class parents too. We should be proud in the Labour party that the academies programme was so successful and popular with parents that the current Government continued it. Although I do have my concerns. First, how do we ensure that academies are linked with the communities they serve? It cannot be right that thousands of academies are only accountable to government ministers. When I was in Government it seemed absurd that ministers would have to sign off fixing a leaking roof. Decisions would be far better made by local communities, so Labour is looking at how we can devolve power to the local level. And like any school, sometimes an academy will fail, so working with Ofsted, academy chains and local government, the Government must ensure safeguards are in place to keep standards high. Second, the Government hasn't got enough "bang for its buck" with its programme to allow already outstanding schools to become academies. I support more freedoms for all schools, and understand why many have taken the opportunity, given the cash incentives offered. But with freedom comes responsibility. The Government should have ensured that each outstanding school converting to academy status had a clear programme to help raise standards in other schools that weren't doing so well. Third, there has been insufficient focus on driving up performance in our most deprived communities. The main measure is how many pupils are on free school meals. So academies set up under Labour took an average intake of around 30 per cent of pupils on free school meals, which is above average, while recent data shows that academies established under the current Government have a lower proportion of pupils on free school meals than the average. Labour has always believed that academies should focus on driving up performance in underperforming schools. That will come from better teaching and leadership, a laser like focus on English and Maths including post 16, and giving schools more freedom to innovate. Academies, like all schools, will have their responsibilities too - ensuring pupils get access to a healthy meal, suitable outdoor space and a minimum of two hours of PE a week. Whatever progress has been made, more than 40 per cent of children in England still don't achieve a basic standard of education at 16. We will pay a long term cost in our economy and society if we don't continue to drive up standards for all. Stephen Twigg MP is Labour's Shadow Education Secretary