TORY plans to make every school in England an academy were cast into turmoil yesterday by new concerns that academy leaders are pumping public cash into other private businesses.

Labour revealed that more than 40 per cent of academy trusts, which are publicly funded but outside of local authority control, have made payments to businesses or organisations in which a school director or trustee has a financial interest.

The number of academies making such payments, described as “not normal” by the Department for Education, has soared by 11 per cent since last year.