Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect on the budgets of Oxfordshire primary and secondary schools of (a) changes to business rates, (b) the apprenticeship levy, (c) changes to national insurance contributions and (d) the withdrawal of the education services grant.

The National Audit Office published an estimate of the cost pressures faced by schools between 2015-16 and 2019-20 in December 2016, available at: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/financial-sustainability-in-schools/.

On 17 July 2017, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced that the Department will provide an additional £1.3 billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, on top of the spending plans considered in the NAO report. Core funding for schools will rise from almost £41 billion in 2017-18 to £42.4 billion in 2018-19, and £43.5 billion in 2019‑20. This represents an increase of over 6%. As the Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, this means that overall funding for schools and high needs will be maintained in real terms per pupil over the next two years.

We will be publishing an updated assessment of cost pressures for schools, taking account of this additional funding, which will include consideration of the withdrawal of the Education Services Grant and the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, and any planned changes to national insurance. Schools are funded to meet the costs of business rates on the basis of actual charges.