Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that schools in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England do not have to reduce funding to learning to manage ongoing costs relating to the outbreak of covid-19.

Teachers, school leaders, and pupils have made a huge contribution to the nation’s efforts to respond to the challenges arising from the COVID-19 outbreak, and the department is very grateful for their continued hard work. Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, we have ensured that all schools continued to receive their core funding as normal, regardless of any periods of reduced attendance.

The department recognises that some schools may be facing pressures this winter. In Spending Review 2021, we announced we are continuing to deliver year on year, real terms per pupil increases to school funding, investing a further £4.7 billion by the 2024-25 financial year for the core schools budget in England, over and above the Spending Review 2019 settlement for schools in 2022-23. This builds on the largest cash boost for schools in a decade provided at the Spending Review in 2019. This £4.7 billion includes a further £1.6 billion in the 2022-23 financial year, on top of the £2.4 billion increase over 2021-22 levels already announced as part of the 2019 spending round, meaning a year-on-year 5% real terms per pupil boost in 2022-23 financial year compared to 2021-22. This will rapidly give schools the resources they need to raise attainment, meet the cost of the Health and Social Care Levy, increase teacher pay and continue to rise to the challenges of COVID-19 response and recovery.

Schools in Coventry North East are attracting £98.4 million in total this year, a 2.5% cash increase, through the schools national funding formula. This reflects an increase of 2.4% in pupil-led funding compared to the 2020-21 financial year. School leaders have the flexibility to make their own decisions on how to prioritise their spending to invest in a range of resources and activities that will best support their staff and pupils.

In addition to the increase in core funding for schools, schools will receive a £1 billion recovery premium over the next two years to help those pupils most in need of support to catch up. This will help to deliver evidence-based approaches to support the most disadvantaged pupils, and means every school in England will have more money to support young people’s recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

This £1 billion comes on top of recovery interventions announced previously, including £1.5 billion investment in tutoring in schools and colleges, £400 million investment in expanding training opportunities in early years and schools settings, £950 million in flexible funding for schools, £200 million for summer schools, £17 million for early language support, and the opportunity for year 13 students to repeat their final year in the 2021-2022 academic year.