Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department made available to Enfield Council as part of the Coronavirus Catch-Up Premium Scheme in each of the last ten years in real terms.

The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding in education to achieve that.

The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review. This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in 2022/23. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.

Total funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25, which is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil.

The Dedicated Schools Grant Early Years Block and High Needs Block allocations for financial years 2014 to 2024 for Enfield are available in the links in the attached annex. The most recent data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2023-to-2024.

The School Improvement and Monitoring Grant allocations for 2018 to 2023 for Enfield are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-improvement-monitoring-and-brokering-grant-allocations#full-publication-update-history. This was a ringfenced grant designed to support councils to monitor performance of maintained schools, broker school improvement provision, and intervene as appropriate. The functions this grant covered are now funded from maintained schools’ budgets.

The Covid Catch Up Premium allocation for 2020 to 2021 for Enfield is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-catch-up-premium-provisional-allocations. The Catch Up Premium was followed by the Recovery Premium, which is worth over £1.3 billon for state funded schools in England, across the 2021/22 and 2023/24 academic years. The Recovery Premium was, and continues to be, targeted towards disadvantaged pupils, as the evidence is clear that the disadvantaged have been impacted more than others. Enfield’s allocations for 2021 to 2023 are available in the links in the attached annex, the most recent data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-recovery-premium-funding-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2022-to-2023.

Since September 2014, all pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 in England's state funded schools, including academies and free schools, are entitled to free school meals. Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In June 2022, the Government announced an increase to £2.41 per pupil in UIFSM funding. This was uplifted from £2.34 in June 2022 and backdated to 1 April 2022 in recognition of the cost pressures schools were facing. The UIFSM provisional allocation for Enfield for 2014 to 2023 are available in the links in the attached annex. The most recent data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-2022-to-2023.

The Pupil Premium provides additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Pupil Premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24. The Pupil Premium allocations for 2014 to 2024 for Enfield are available in the links in the attached annex. The most recent data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2023-to-2024.

The Government publishes GDP deflators that can be used to understand the impact of inflation over time. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-march-2023-quarterly-national-accounts.