Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data her Department holds on the real-terms level of core funding for schools in each year since 2010 using 2010 as the base year.

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

The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional investment of £2 billion in each of 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, an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.

This additional funding will enable head teachers to continue to invest in the areas that positively impact educational attainment, including high quality teaching and targeted support to the pupils who need it most. It will also help schools to manage higher costs, including higher energy bills and staff pay awards.

Total funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level in real terms per pupil, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Information on funding for schools, in real terms, is available through the Department’s published data at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-funding-statistics. This sets out that that when adjusted for inflation, funding per pupil was broadly flat between 2010/11 and 2015/16 at around £6,700 in 2022/23 prices. It then fell by 3.8% over 2016/17 and 2017/18, but subsequently increased by 1.3% over 2018/19 and 2019/20. Since then, funding has increased by 10.3% over the course of the following four years, reaching £7,220 in 2023/24 (in 2022/23 prices).