Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that reductions in real-terms to school funding in Garston and Halewood constituency will not exceed 1.5 per cent in 2017-18.

We have made a significant investment in our schools by providing an additional £1.3 billion across 2018-19 and 2019-20, over and above existing plans. As the independent IFS have confirmed, overall funding per pupil will now be maintained in real terms up to 2020. The national funding formula will deliver higher per pupil funding in respect of every school, and every local area.

Since 2015, the schools budget has been protected in real terms. Both Liverpool’s and Knowsley’s School Block allocations have been protected in cash terms per pupil.

Local authorities, in consultation with local schools, set their own formulae that determine schools’ budgets. As my Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State set out in July, this will continue in 2018-19 and 2019-20, providing stability for schools during the transition to the national funding formula.

Local formulae must include the minimum funding guarantee, which means that no school’s budget can be reduced by more than 1.5% per pupil in any year.