Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress he has made in moving from a National Funding Formula for schools to a direct funding formula.

The Government remains firmly committed to completing our reforms to the national school funding system, and introducing a direct national funding formula.

This will mean that each mainstream school is allocated funding on the same basis, wherever it is in the country, and every child can be given the same opportunities, based on a consistent assessment of their needs.

The Department is moving carefully towards the direct national funding formula over the coming years, working with the sector to ensure that the transition is a smooth one. From 2023-24, local authorities will have to move their own funding formulae closer to the national funding formula as part of our step-by-step approach to transition. Local minimum funding guarantee protections will remain in place to maintain stability for schools and protect them from sudden drops in pupil-led per-pupil funding.

We are also continuing to develop the schools national funding formula to allocate funding nationally in line with our recent consultation: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/implementing-the-direct-national-funding-formula/supporting_documents/Implementing%20the%20direct%20national%20funding%20formula%20%20government%20consultation.pdf. The Department's response will be published in due course.

The Department will also provide an update on the Schools Bill in due course.