In a sign of the depth of Tory unrest, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, said the plans announced by George Osborne could lead to the creation of “new and distant bureaucracies” rather than delivering greater freedom and autonomy for schools. He also said they could have the unwelcome effect of removing parents from governing bodies and reducing accountability.

Brady, who spoke out as new data suggested the reorganisation could cost more than £1.3bn, is writing to education secretary Nicky Morgan in the hope that the proposals spelled out in the recent education white paper can be changed. He also wants reassurances from Morgan that the plans will not be rushed through parliament – suggesting that without a rethink they could trigger a backbench Tory rebellion. …”

Government reports raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest involving Perry Beeches academy trust and companies linked to some of its senior administrators. They also found problems with the number of pupils declared as eligible for free school meals.

The trust, which runs five schools – four of which are free schools, was told earlier this month that it would be required to run financial transactions by the government until it made sufficient improvements. The news comes soon after ministers announced that all schools were to become academies by 2022.

“Parents will be deeply worried that this government has completely failed to put in place the appropriate checks over academy chain funding decisions, prioritising converting schools into academies over school standards and the protection of public money,” said Labour’s shadow minister for schools, Nic Dakin.

He added: “It is extremely concerning that so much taxpayer money is ending up in the pockets of academy chain directors and trustees. Labour will fiercely oppose this top-down, costly reorganisation of our schools, which nobody wants and schools don’t need, ensure there is proper oversight of all our schools, and put local parents and communities at the heart of decisions when it comes to their children’s schools.”

Among the concerns raised by the government’s report was its finding that the trust paid a firm called Nexus for services, which were then subcontracted to a firm run by the trust’s own accounting officer.

It also said’s the trust’s chair of governors (CoG) had “joint business interests with the primary director of Nexus”. It added: “A review of declarations of interest confirmed the CoG did not disclose these on the [2014] annual declaration.”

In a letter dated 8 March, the government’s Education Funding Agency said there had been “serious breaches of the academies financial handbook, including serious concerns about financial management, control and governance”.

Perry Beeches has been a favourite of Cameron, as well as former education secretary Michael Gove and his successor Nicky Morgan.

The previous year, Gove was told the Conservative party conference: “There are some amazing schools in Birmingham, there are some great independent schools, there are some great grammar schools, but I have to say the best schools in Birmingham are Perry Beeches I and Perry Beeches II.”

… This is how it works: your school is a local authority school. When it becomes an academy, the local authority is compelled to give (for a peppercorn rent) a 125-year lease to whichever “sponsor” comes in to take over the school. Leaseholders have rights over the properties they have leases on, including, perhaps, permission to run a “dating agency” on school premises. Where Sir Greg trod, others are sure to step, too. In the case of “foundation” schools – schools whose ownership is in the hands of a trust – switching to academy status entails a direct transfer of freehold from the trust to the new sponsors. There is room for some serious cash to be made here.

There is room for some other jiggery-pokery too. On several occasions in the past few years, I have been invited into schools by people from the soon-to-be-extinct species, local authority advisers. At some point in our chats, they have taken me to one side and told me that central government, academy chains and individual academies do not have a duty of care for all children.

That is the local authority’s job. That duty covers vulnerable, “challenging”, at-risk, disabled, asylum-seeking and looked-after children. Advisers have told me they have found children who were once in academies somehow no longer being in academies, whether that is a result of the rush to improve test scores, prove “progress” or because of an unwillingness to spend money on supporting such children.

Who has picked up the pieces? The local authority. We can imagine the wall-to-wall academies landscape of the future full of the same urge to offload “difficult” children. In which case, impoverished local authorities will end up having to run impoverished “units” for them, won’t they?

In the academies themselves, other possibilities are taking shape. In 2012, while education secretary, Michael Gove released them from the requirement to hire well-paid, trained teachers. This “advance” has coincided with automated teaching appearing on iPads. Why employ people trained to teach, when a software company can do it for you?

A future beckons where the student will sit in a pod and press a button: the word “cheese” appears. The student types in “vache”, the machine says “no”. The student types in “fromage”, the machine says “yes”. An untrained operative walks past, nods, and walks on. One student is mucking about. The operative finds the student’s name on the discipline app, clicks on “negative comment”. As it’s the third time this week, the student’s name pops up on the deputy head’s screen. The student is sent off for an hour in the detention suite: no need for human contact – made all the easier through academicisation. …

… Now, with many more schools under direct rule, what has arrived are what Osborne in other circumstances might perhaps have called “the shackles of local bureaucracy”. They are the innovative but unelected regional schools commissioners, whose job is to do what local authority advisers used to do, but with hundreds more schools on their books. Not so innovative, then. Perhaps these commissioners have bought Gove’s illuminating maps so that when the light comes on, they jump in their cars and head for the North York Moors, or Dover.

Until now, places have been reserved for elected parents on school governing bodies, but under plans outlined by education secretary Nicky Morgan in the white paper published on Thursday those roles will now be abolished.

Currently, new teachers in England complete their training and then spend a year in the classroom before being awarded QTS. Ministers want a more challenging accreditation, based on a teacher’s performance in the classroom and judged by their headteacher and another senior school leader.