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1664896

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the letter from Susan Acland-Hood to the Chair of the Education Select Committee on National Funding Formula Update, published on 6 October 2023, what is the (a) scope and (b) terms of reference for the internal review into the miscalculation in the total amount of funding allocated to schools for the 2024-25 financial year; and when will the review conclude.
	tabling member constituency	Houghton and Sunderland South
	tabling member printed	Bridget Phillipson
	uin	202590
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2023 answer text <p>The Secretary of State for Education has asked the Department’s Permanent Secretary to conduct a formal review of the quality assurance process surrounding the calculation of the schools National Funding Formula figures. This will provide external and independent scrutiny. Peter Wyman CBE will lead this review, and will be supported in his work by an expert panel drawn from outside the Department. The timing and terms of reference of the review have yet to be finalised, but the expectation is that it will conclude before Christmas.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 19/10/2023 14:51:16 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4046 label Biography information for Bridget Phillipson

1660735

	registered interest
	date	14/09/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a comparative assessment of the impact (a) price and (b) wage inflation on school budgets for schools (i) in and (ii) outside the f40 network.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	199601
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/09/2023 answer text <p>Each year the Department publishes an assessment of schools’ costs and funding, which looks at mainstream schools in England at the national level. The Department recognises that this assessment will not reflect the position of each individual school, and that different schools will face different financial challenges, including schools in the Local Authorities represented by the f40.</p><p>The purpose of the schools national funding formula (NFF), which allocates the great majority of school funding in England, is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with more pupils with additional needs – such as those indicated by measures of deprivation, low prior attainment, or English as an additional language – receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils.</p><p>Schools have autonomy and the responsibility to manage their budgets. The Department does not hold real time data on individual schools’ costs and spending decisions. It would not be right to base schools’ funding on the spending decisions of individual schools; schools’ funding is, rather, based on objective measures of comparative need.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/09/2023 15:43:10 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1660487

	registered interest
	date	13/09/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to reform national funding formulae for primary and secondary schools.
	tabling member constituency	York Central
	tabling member printed	Rachael Maskell
	uin	199439
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 22/09/2023 answer text <p>This Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that.</p><p>The national funding formula (NFF) continues to distribute funding fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts. The purpose of the NFF is not to give every school the same level of per pupil funding. It is right that schools with more pupils with additional needs receive extra funding to help them meet the needs of all their pupils.</p><p>The NFF targets funding to schools which have the greatest numbers of pupils with additional needs. In 2023/24, the Department has targeted a greater proportion of schools NFF funding towards deprived pupils than ever before. 9.8% (over £4 billion) of the formula has been allocated according to deprivation in 2023/24. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps, and level up educational opportunities.</p><p>The NFF is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. In the future we will continue to fund schools through the NFF in a fair and transparent manner, on a consistent assessment of need based on pupil numbers and characteristics.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 22/09/2023 09:05:36 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4471 label Biography information for Rachael Maskell

1653521

	registered interest
	date	17/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funding was allocated to local authorities through the National Funding Formula in the 2022-23 academic year.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	194476
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding to achieve that.</p><p>The National Funding Formula (NFF) allocates funding to Local Authorities on a financial year basis. Through the 2022/23 schools NFF, Local Authorities were notionally allocated £40.1 billion in funding. This included funding for both academies and maintained mainstream schools. Out of this £40.1 billion, £22.8 billion was allocated by reference to academies. In making allocations, the NFF does not distinguish between academies and maintained schools, and the proportion of the total funding allocated by reference to academies was therefore determined by the number and characteristics of the pupils who attend academies.</p><p>Alongside the schools NFF, Local Authorities were also allocated £9 billion for high needs. Local Authorities use their high needs funding to provide the costs of special schools, both academy and maintained special schools, and the costs of special educational needs top up funding to mainstream schools, both academy and maintained.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 194475 question first answered 24/07/2023 14:10:35 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1653084

	registered interest
	date	14/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the oral contribution by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury of 13 July 2023, Official Report, column 526, which budget lines within the Department for Education's existing budget are being reprioritised to deliver the additional funding to increase teachers' pay by 6.5%.
	tabling member constituency	Twickenham
	tabling member printed	Munira Wilson
	uin	194246
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/07/2023 answer text <p>The Government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommendations for 2023/24 teacher pay awards in full. This means that teachers and head teachers in maintained schools will receive an increase of at least 6.5%, the highest STRB award in three decades. The Department will be providing an additional £525 million of funding in the 2023/24 financial year, and £900 million in 2024/25, and as the unions have agreed, this means that the award is properly funded.</p><p>Although the Department will have to make difficult decisions, the Secretary of State has been clear all frontline services will be protected. Funding for early years, SEND, school conditions and core school and college budgets are fully protected. To help fund the pay award, the Secretary of State has also secured exceptional permission from the Treasury to keep money where there have been or will be underspends, which in normal years would have to be returned to Treasury.</p><p>The additional funding announced alongside the teachers’ pay award fully covers the cost of the pay award above 3.5%, nationally. The Department’s affordability calculation says that a 4% pay award should be affordable for the average school, and the Department is more than covering that calculation.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb grouped question UIN 194241 question first answered 26/07/2023 15:03:16 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4776 label Biography information for Munira Wilson

1653242

	registered interest
	date	14/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement on 13 July 2023 that schoolteachers will receive a 6.5 per cent pay increase from September 2023, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on educational (a) provision and (b) outcomes of 3.5 percentage points of that pay increase being allocated from school budgets.
	tabling member constituency	Hornsey and Wood Green
	tabling member printed	Catherine West
	uin	194234
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/07/2023 answer text <p>In November last year at the Autumn Statement, the Department announced an additional £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review.</p><p>On 13 July 2023, the Department announced an additional £525 million this year, to support schools with the teachers’ pay award, and a further £900 million in the 2024/25 financial year.</p><p>It means overall school funding is rising by over £3.9 billion this year alone, compared to the 2022/23 financial year, on top of a £4 billion cash increase last year. Combined, that represents a 16% increase in just two years. School funding in 2024/25 will be more than £59.6 billion, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil.</p><p>This additional funding will enable head teachers to continue to invest in the areas that positively impact educational attainment, including high quality teaching and targeted support to the pupils who need it most, as well as helping schools to manage higher costs, including teacher pay awards.</p><p>Each year the Department publishes an assessment of schools’ costs and funding, which informs what pay award the Department judges to be affordable for schools from within this existing funding. In March 2023, the Department set out its calculation that schools, on average, could afford a pay award of 4% from within existing funding.</p><p>The Department decided to fund the 2023 pay award from a lower affordability figure than the 4% calculation, funding the costs of the pay award above 3.5%, on average, rather than above the 4% national affordability calculation. This is a more generous funding offer than back in March 2023, and all four unions have confirmed that this ensures the pay award is properly funded.</p><p>The Department is also providing a further up to £40 million in addition to the £525 million in the 2023/24 financial year, to support individual schools which find themselves in particular financial difficulties. This is to be allocated on a case by case basis.</p><p>Although the Department will have to make difficult decisions, the Secretary of State has been clear all frontline services will be protected. Funding for Early Years, SEND, School Conditions and Core School and College Budgets are fully protected. To help fund the pay award, the Secretary of State has also secured exceptional permission from the Treasury to keep money where there have been or will be underspends, which in normal years would have to be returned to Treasury.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 24/07/2023 16:44:27 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4523 label Biography information for Catherine West

1651585

	registered interest
	date	10/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to increase the weighting for disadvantage in the National Funding Formula for schools; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Sir Stephen Timms
	uin	193048
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/07/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing a world class educational system for all pupils and has provided significant funding to achieve that. The National Funding Formula (NFF) distributes funding fairly based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics.</p><p>The Department have now published the NFF for schools and high needs 2024/25, which can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs</a>. It will mean core funding will be at its highest ever level in real terms per pupil in 2024/25, as measured by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). This demonstrates the Government’s commitment to ensuring every pupil receives a world class education.</p><p>The NFF targets additional funding to schools which have the greatest number of pupils with additional needs. The 2024/25 NFF will target a greater proportion of funding towards deprived pupils than ever before. Over £4.5 billion, or 10.1%, of the schools NFF has been allocated through deprivation factors in 2024/25. Over £7.9 billion, or 17.8%, will be allocated for additional needs overall. This will help schools in their vital work to close attainment gaps and level up educational opportunities.</p><p>On top of this core funding through the NFF, Pupil Premium provides additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Pupil Premium rates have increased by 5% in 2023/24, taking total Pupil Premium funding to nearly £2.9 billion. Pupil Premium rates for 2024/25 will be announced later this year, in line with the usual timetable.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 18/07/2023 17:06:51 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

1649564

	registered interest
	date	03/07/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help schools plan their budgets for the 2023-2024 academic year.
	tabling member constituency	Portsmouth South
	tabling member printed	Stephen Morgan
	uin	192172
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding in education to achieve that. The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, over and above totals announced at the Spending Review 2021.</p><p>This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to 2022/23 financial year. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in the 2022/23 financial year. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.</p><p>Funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level per pupil, in real terms as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Government provides these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead.</p><p>Funding for mainstream schools and high needs for 2023/24 is allocated through the schools and high needs National Funding Formulae (NFFs), published in July 2022. This determines the amount of funding each Local Authority receives for the schools in their area, and final school allocations are then determined by each Local Authority’s own local funding formula.</p><p>All schools should have been notified of their funding allocations for 2023/24. Academies will receive their funding allocations on an academic year basis from the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and maintained schools receive their funding on a financial year basis from their Local Authorities.</p><p>In addition to funding through the NFF, in 2023/24 mainstream schools also receive funding through the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG). The Department has now published school level allocations of the MSAG funding, so that all eligible schools can see their additional funding through this grant. Pupil Premium allocations for the 2023/24 financial year have also been published.</p><p>The Department understands that one of the key concerns of schools regarding budget planning in the 2023/24 academic year is teachers’ pay.</p><p>Following unions’ rejection of the Government’s 4.5% offer in March, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year, as part of the normal process. The Department will be considering the recommendations and continues to work across government to ensure that announcements can be made as early as possible. This year, for example, to allow trusts more time to prepare their budgets, the Department has extended the deadline for the Budget Forecast Return that academies are required to provide, setting out their budget plans, to 31 August 2023.</p><p>It is recommended that schools consider the range of possible scenarios on the different cost factors, including on support staff pay and energy, that might materialise, and what the implications would be for their individual school.</p><p>Guidance to help schools complete forecasts can be found here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-budget-forecast-return-guide-to-using-the-online-form/academies-budget-forecast-guidance-for-completing-the-online-form" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-budget-forecast-return-guide-to-using-the-online-form/academies-budget-forecast-guidance-for-completing-the-online-form</a>. The Department’s School Resource Management offer also includes advice to help with forecasting, including estates management advice, buying guides and how to join or create your own school professionals network.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 07/07/2023 15:50:36 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4653 label Biography information for Stephen Morgan

1646121

	registered interest
	date	20/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the real-terms level of core funding for schools in each year since 2010 using 2010 as the base year.
	tabling member constituency	Lewisham East
	tabling member printed	Janet Daby
	uin	190496
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2023 answer text <p>The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding for education to achieve that.</p><p>The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional investment of £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review. This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in 2022/23, an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.</p><p>This additional funding will enable head teachers to continue to invest in the areas that positively impact educational attainment, including high quality teaching and targeted support to the pupils who need it most. It will also help schools to manage higher costs, including higher energy bills and staff pay awards.</p><p>Total funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.</p><p>Information on funding for schools, in real terms, is available through the Department’s published data at: <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics" target="_blank">https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics</a>. This sets out that that when adjusted for inflation, funding per pupil was broadly flat between 2010/11 and 2015/16 at around £6,700 in 2022/23 prices. It then fell by 3.8% over 2016/17 and 2017/18, but subsequently increased by 1.3% over 2018/19 and 2019/20. Since then, funding has increased by 10.3% over the course of the following four years, reaching £7,220 in 2023/24 (in 2022/23 prices).</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 26/06/2023 16:38:51 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4698 label Biography information for Janet Daby

1642514

	registered interest
	date	07/06/2023
	answering body	Department for Education
	answering dept id	60
	answering dept short name	Education
	answering dept sort name	Education
	hansard heading	Schools: Finance
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of financial transparency arrangements for academy trusts and local authority maintained schools.
	tabling member constituency	Solihull
	tabling member printed	Julian Knight
	uin	188305
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/06/2023 answer text <p>The Department requires a high level of accountability and transparency of academy trusts. Academy trusts’ status as companies, charities, and public sector bodies means they have a rigorous tri-partite framework. Individual trusts must publish their annual audited accounts online, including details of their objectives, achievements and future plans, and also set out what they have done to promote value for money in support of those objectives, as part of their annual report and accounts.</p><p>The primary responsibility for the oversight of academy trusts rests with the trustees themselves, supported by clear financial management and governance requirements set by the Department in Academy Trusts’ Funding Agreements, the Academy Trust Handbook and Academies Accounts Direction. The Department expects academy trustees to deliver strong governance and monitor the financial health of their trust or school and ensure it remains a going concern. The transparency of finances in academy trusts enables the Department to identify problems quickly and intervene where required.</p><p>Local Authorities are the accountable body for maintained schools and, in line with national frameworks and guidance set by the Department, they monitor and intervene in these schools to reduce the risk of financial failure or misuse of funds. Each Local Authority has a scheme for financing schools which sets out the financial relationship between it and its maintained schools, and the Department publishes guidance setting out what is required or permitted in schemes. Since 2019, the Department has implemented transparency measures across the maintained school sector similar to those in academies, in order to strengthen the arrangements for maintained schools.</p> answering member constituency Bognor Regis and Littlehampton answering member printed Nick Gibb question first answered 16/06/2023 12:07:02 answering member 111 label Biography information for Nick Gibb
	tabling member	4410 label Biography information for Julian Knight