Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish new research and guidance on efficiently running small primary schools for small rural primary schools.

The department is committed to supporting all schools, including small rural primaries, to manage their resources effectively and maximise value. Through our ‘Maximising value for pupils’ programme, we are helping schools realise better value from existing spend, including on energy, agency supply staff, banking, and management information systems. This support is available to all schools, regardless of size or location.

We recognise the unique challenges of small rural primary schools and that is why our Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool allows schools to compare their spending against others in similar circumstances, including by size and location, so that leaders can make informed decisions that reflect the realities of their school, rather than comparing themselves to settings with different contexts.