The government needs to look into the way academy schools are assessed in order to simplify the process, a report published by the Education Select Committee has claimed. 

With more than 5,000 schools across England and Wales now having become academies, the group of MPs said the system for evaluating and tracking their performance is "confused, fragmented and lacking in transparency", calling for a reassessment of how these schools are ranked. 

According to the report, in the current climate, the role of Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs), appointed to approve and monitor free schools and academies is not entirely clear, despite promises from the government that RSCs would be taking swift action to improve these types of school.

Education Select Committee chairman Neil Carmichael said the RSCs are doing a necessary job as part of a response to the problem of oversight on a local level in recent years with regards to academies. However, the report still insists that changes need to be made. 

It said a "fundamental reassessment of accountability and oversight for all schools will be needed", while it will also be the case that the government needs to look at the ways in which it can improve the commissioners' transparency, accountability and working relationships.

"Without attention to these issues, RSCs will be seen as undemocratic and opaque," the report states, adding that the effectiveness of the commissioners in seeing improvements will be centred around improving relationships with schools, communities, local authorities and Ofsted.

Mr Carmichael said the Department for Education had "for too long and under all parties... made changes to structures without setting out the big picture". 

He added: "It's hardly surprising that most people have never heard of RSCs and even those who have are unclear about their role. 

"RSCs are a product of the Department's 'acting first, thinking later' approach when it comes to big changes in the schools landscape."