Councillor Wayne Daley, cabinet member for children’s services at Northumberland County Council said the council was writing a “strongly worded” letter to the Department for Education following the revelations.
“We are urging them to take action to recover the money paid to Bright Tribe and to reallocate it to the council so that we can invest it in improving education in Haydon Bridge,” he said.
Along with the issues at the northern hub, the documentary also claimed the trust had made false claims for grants for the Whitehaven Academy in Cumbria.
Cumbria Constabulary said it was conducting preliminary inquiries to inform whether it was necessary to begin a formal police investigation.
In response to the claims, the Department for Education said it took the issue of public money very seriously, and would not tolerate people exploiting the system for personal gain.
A spokesman for Bright Tribe said the trust’s new leadership has been looking into the issues raised “as matters of utmost urgency” since its appointment.
“The independent investigations the new leaders have commissioned, including those referred to in the BBC report, cover every area of the trusts’ operational work over the past few years,” he said.
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