 |
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.</p><p>The
Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the financial
years 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. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two
years.</p><p>The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) High Needs Block allocations for the
2023/24 financial year for Solihull is £38,474,528 (after recoupment and deductions).</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 spending in schools in history.</p><p>The
Government funds Local Authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through
the early years block of the DSG. The published early years block allocation for the
2023/24 financial year for Solihull is £16,971,915.</p><p>The final School Improvement
and Monitoring Grant allocation made to Solihull Local Authority in October 2022 was
£42,439. This was a ringfenced grant designed to support councils to monitor performance
of maintained schools, broker school improvement provision, and intervene as appropriate.
The functions this grant covered are now funded from maintained schools’ budgets.</p><p>The
final COVID-19 Catch Up Premium allocation for 2020/21 for Solihull was £517,788.
The Catch Up Premium was followed by the Recovery Premium, which is worth over £1.3
billon for state funded schools in England, across the 2021/22 and 2023/24 academic
years. The Recovery Premium was, and continues to be, targeted towards disadvantaged
pupils. Solihull’s indicative Recovery Premium allocation for 2022/23 is £784,379.</p><p>Since
September 2014, all pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 in England's state funded
schools, including academies and free schools, are entitled to free school meals.
Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools.
In June 2022, the Government announced an increase to £2.41 per pupil in UIFSM funding.
This was uplifted from £2.34 in June 2022 and backdated to 1 April 2022 in recognition
of the cost pressures schools were facing. The UIFSM provisional allocation for Solihull
for 2022/23 is £976,708.</p><p>The Pupil Premium provides additional funding to support
disadvantaged pupils. Pupil Premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24, taking
the provisional Pupil Premium allocation in 2023/24 for Solihull to £13,469,085.</p>
|
|
