Michael Gove is on the spot again over the behaviour of his aides and the New Schools Network

Michael Gove on the spot again

• Michael Gove is in trouble over the behaviour of staff at the New Schools Network, a charity set up to provide advice on setting up free schools. Labour MP Caroline Flint asked Gove how many "expressions of interest" in setting up free schools the New Schools Network had received that related to her constituency, Don Valley, and to Doncaster. MPs question ministers in order to hold government to account, but when a senior civil servant tried to collect the information to answer Flint's question, Dominic Cummings, one of Gove's confidants, said: "NSN is not giving out to you, the media or anybody else any figure on 'expressions of interest' for PQs, FOIs or anything else. Further, NSN has not, is not, and will never answer a single FOI request made to us concerning anything at all."

Gove is also facing claims that he and his advisers used their private email accounts to conduct government business. Jeevan Vasagar reports:

The emails allegedly include a discussion of replacing personnel in the department but civil servants were unable to find those emails when asked to retrieve them under the Freedom of Information Act, the Financial Times reported ...

Dominic Cummings, Gove's chief political aide, wrote to colleagues shortly after he was appointed stating he "will not answer any further emails to my official DfE account …"

The email continued: "i will only answer things that come from gmail accounts from people who i know who they are. i suggest that you do the same in general but thats obv up to you guys – i can explain in person the reason for this …"

The whole story becomes all the more ironic given the thrust of a speech by David Willetts yesterday. The universities minister told higher education providers to get "ahead of the curve" and improve transparency before others improved it for them. "'Show students the data – or others will do it for you', Willetts warns" ran the headline in the Times Higher.

More education news from the Guardian

• Nick Clegg has announced a £50m catch-up summer school scheme to help children prepare for secondary school. Patrick Wintour reports:

The point of transition from primary to secondary education at age 11 has often been seen by educationists as a critical moment when disadvantaged children fall behind. Clegg claims those who go off the rails in later years are those who struggled in school.

But Conor Ryan, a former Labour education adviser points out that this is not extra money... it will be drawn from the £1.25bn pupil premium pot.

• A British businessman has appeared in court accused of conspiring to corruptly pay for the son of a high-ranking foreign official to be educated at Durham University. Rob Evans reports:

Bill Lowther, 71, is being prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) for allegedly helping to secure the university place for the son of the then governor of Vietnam's state-owned bank as an inducement.

• Mathematicians warn of damage to UK economy from maths funding cuts

Education news from around the web

• In the Telegraph the high master of the Manchester grammar school, Christopher Ray, is arguing that new academies must be able to select pupils otherwise "they will fail the most able". Under the headline: "State classrooms are stifling social mobility in Britain," he poses these questions:

"is it better for a very able boy to attend a mixed-ability academy and be given specialist support at a distance by an independent school? Or is it preferable for him to join us on a means-tested bursary so that he is in daily contact with a critical mass of boys with similar interests and capacities?"

• The Telegraph is also carrying a piece by Anthea Rowan who was dismayed to discover that the boarding school she subscribed her daughter to turned out not to have any other weekend boarders.

"The school my daughter attends describes itself as a boarding school. That's what it says on the tin. And that's what it is: when we visited, we met boarders. When we enquired, we were told there would be other boarders starting in her house, in her year and at the same time as her. So she was beyond disappointed when she discovered that she was the only full boarder in her year in her house when she started a year ago."

• The BBC is reporting "one in five universities in deficit".

• Rural schools in west China provinces are being sponsored by tobacco companies, Bloomberg reports:

One of the first things primary school kids learn is what made their education possible: tobacco.

"On the gates of these schools, you'll see slogans that say ' Genius comes from hard work - Tobacco helps you become talented,'" said Xu Guihua, secretary general of the privately funded lobby group Chinese Association on Tobacco Control. The schools are sponsored by local units of China's government-owned monopoly cigarette maker. "They are pinning their hopes on young people taking up smoking."

• The DfE is giving parents more freedom to run their own local children's centres. More on this in the Guardian at a later date, I'm sure...

Events

• The Clarity Foundation will work to improve provision for children with special educational needs. More information here, and they are holding a launch at a two-day conference in Newbury in October.

• CRASSH, The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, part of Cambridge University, is holding a series of six free lectures to discuss "The Idea of the University"

From the Guardian's Higher Education Network

• Don't doubt the value of blogging in academic publishing. Blogging encourages wider participation and generates instant debates. It should be wholeheartedly embraced by early career researchers, says Sarah-Louise Quinnell.

• Live chat: Should universities regard students as consumers? As marketisation intensifies, will higher education become hire education? What are the implications for academia if students become the consumers? Join us Friday, 23 September at 1pm, or post your questions now.

Teachers seminars from the Guardian Education Centre

Reading for pleasure – bringing classics to life

This half-day conference for secondary school teachers will explore the use and teaching of classic books from Dickens and beyond. Keynote speakers will be Simon Callow, actor and Dickens enthusiast and Judy Golding, daughter of William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies. 20 October, London

Insight into digital journalism

Spend a day at the Guardian and find out how an international news media organisation works. The seminar will focus on aspects of digital journalism including writing and editing for a news website, the relationship between print and web journalism, live blogging, the use of social media, podcasting and video production. 2 November, Kings Place, London

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Judy Friedberg is away until 27 September, in the meantime please send your tips and stories for Cribsheet to Frederika Whitehead.