Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Autumn Statement on 17 November 2022 of additional funding for schools in the next two years, what assessment she has made of the proportion of that extra funding that will be required by schools to cover (a) increased energy bills and (b) increased staffing costs.

The Government is prioritising further funding for schools. The 2022 Autumn Statement has provided an additional increase in the core schools’ budget of £2.3 billion for both 2023/24 and 2024/25. This brings the core schools budget to a total of £58.8 billion in 2024/25. Funding for schools is already £4 billion higher this year than last year, and this additional funding means it will rise by another £3.5 billion, next year. Taken together, that means a 15% increase in funding in two years.

This additional funding will be used to support both mainstream schools and local authorities’ high needs budgets and will support schools in meeting the costs of their increased energy bills and staffing costs. The Department will set out the specific plans for the allocation of this additional funding in due course.