Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what additional funding his Department makes available to schools to commission extra-curricular activities and projects.
The two main grants to schools to fund their day-to-day activities are the Dedicated Schools Grant and the Education Services Grant. The Education Services Grant is given to local authorities to provide education services for pupils in maintained schools, and is given directly to academies. When a school receives either of these grants, the funding is not ring-fenced: the school can spend it as it chooses. Schools are therefore free to decide how much of this funding they want to spend on extra-curricular activities and projects.
The Department for Education also provides specific ring-fenced funding, through the primary PE and sport premium, for the improvement of PE and sport in primary schools. Headteachers are free to use this funding, an investment of over £150 million a year to 2015/16, to provide extra-curricular clubs for activity and sport, and for sport-related projects.