The debate about the suitability of some academy operators continues as the Department of Education (DfE) has stripped the second largest chain of state-funded academies in England of the control of ten schools.

Although there have been recent calls for inspectors to be allowed to put the operators themselves under the microscope, currently Ofsted inspectors can only monitor individual academies. During inspections, the watchdog found enough evidence to be seriously concerned about standards at the E-Act schools.

With ten academies being taken from the company, it will still be responsible for 24 schools in the UK.

A DfE spokesperson said it was working alongside the academy chain to find new sponsors for the ten underperforming schools.

They said: "We will take swift action to address underperformance in all schools - no matter who controls them. That is as true for academies and free schools as it is for council-run schools.

"We welcome E-Act's decision to hand over a number of their academies to new sponsors. We hope this will mean E-Act can focus on raising standards in their remaining schools."

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt was quick to say the DfE's decision is indicative of Michael Gove's failure to ensure that all academy chains provide high educational standards. Labour has already pledged to ensure that each person in a teaching job will have qualified teacher status if it wins the next general election.

Lib Dem minister David Laws recently stated he believes Ofsted should have the power to inspect the companies that run academy chains, in the same way they can investigate local authorities.

An academy status means the school enjoys state funding, but has a greater level of autonomy enabling it to employ who it likes and it does not need to follow the national curriculum. Although academies originated under a Labour government, they have become a lot more prevalent under the coalition and many are now run by large chains.