After an eight-year investigation which allegedly revealed £3 million of “inappropriate” spending at universities and led to the banning of two principals, the government has bizarrely claimed that an inquiry report into the scandal “does not did not exist.”

The Department for Education has been promising for years to publish its investigation report into the collapse of the Lilac Sky Schools Trust.

A “result” report was published online This year.

Although it claimed that more than £3m of trust spending had been found to be “contentious, irregular or inappropriate”, it contained few further details.

The government had previously dodged disclosure of the investigation under the freedom of information procedure, saying it “intends to publish the final report once the investigation is complete”.

But after a new FAITH of Schools weekthe DfE now says: “There is no final investigation report. »

Holly Lawton, deputy director of fraud and prevention at the Education and Skills Funding Agency, said the previous report was an “interim document to support the investigation process”.

“The nature of the information contained in the document was unverified and therefore incomplete.”

When asked for clarification on the meaning of “unverified”, the DfE said it “does not mean that the information or evidence gathered by the investigation is inaccurate”.

Instead, it means that the process of Maxwellization – in which all parties named in the report are given the opportunity to respond – is not completed.

Transparency campaigner Andy Jolley said: “It’s absurd that those responsible have not received a final report, they are using semantics to protect people from scrutiny. »

FOI expert Laura McInerney said there were 23 reasons the government could give for not providing information.

“They can’t now claim that a report they claimed existed has disappeared. They have to follow the rules, just like schools are supposed to.