Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department will use to decide whether the school efficiency adviser pilots were successful enough to roll out the project; and who will be responsible for making that decision.

School efficiency advisers (SEAs) are one part of the Department’s school efficiency and financial health policy. The Department has committed to provide efficiency experts where appropriate to support schools to improve their efficiency and financial health. We are piloting the provision of this expertise through SEAs, working with the Institute for School Business Leadership.

The overall objective of the support provided by the SEA is that the school can identify how it can improve its efficiency and make best use of its resources. In assessing the programme we will consider the value for money to the taxpayer and the effectiveness of the SEA approach in terms of delivering efficiency savings for the sector.