Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2018 to Question 180286 on Children: Hearing Impairments, what extensive support his Department has provided to schools to deliver the best value possible with available resources.

The department has launched a Supporting School Resource Management strategy which provides schools with practical advice on savings that can be made on the £10 billion non-staffing spend spent across England last year. This outlines the extensive support we are providing for schools and includes support and guidance to schools and academies to improve how they buy goods and services. For example:

- The financial benchmarking service, which allows schools to compare their performance and use of resources with other, similar schools, and also comparisons between academy trusts.

- Recommended deals that are helping schools to save money on the things they buy regularly, such as printers and photocopiers.

- A new deal to support schools with getting value for money when hiring supply teachers and other agency workers.

- Regional Schools Buying Hubs pilots in the North West and South West, providing hands-on support and advice to schools on complex procurement.

- A free teacher vacancy listing website to support recruitment needs and drive down recruitment costs is currently in pilot phase.

- Encouraging schools to integrate their curriculum and financial planning to inform decision making on the deployment of teaching staff.

- School Resource Management Advisers (SRMAs). These sector experts work with schools and trusts to provide tailored advice on how to make best use of their revenue and capital resources to deliver educational outcomes. The SRMA pilot started at the end of January 2018 and completed some 70 deployments by the end of the 2017/18 academic year. SRMAs will be deployed in larger scale in the 2018/19 academic year.