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Written Question
Schools: Finance
Wednesday 27th March 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the current funding formula for schools to ensure that it is adjusted for (a) inflation and (b) increases in the cost of living.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The overall core school budget will total £60.7 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil. School funding is therefore set to have risen by £11 billion next year, compared with 2021/2022.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Monday 25th March 2024

Asked by: Derek Thomas (Conservative - St Ives)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allocating a portion of the savings in direct schools grants from home education to local authorities to provide exam centres.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department allocates school funding to local authorities through the dedicated schools grant, on the basis of pupil numbers in the preceding autumn census. That some children are home educated does not, therefore, lead to unallocated funding. The department does not have current plans to fund exam centres for children who are home educated, but all funding is kept under careful review. Local authorities do have some flexibility to support children and young people who are home educated.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Friday 22nd March 2024

Asked by: Catherine McKinnell (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the funding required to maintain the school estate.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Well-maintained, safe school buildings are a priority for the department in order to ensure that they support a high-quality education for all children. The department has allocated over £15 billion since 2015 for keeping schools safe and operational, including £1.8 billion in 2023/24. In addition, the school rebuilding programme is transforming poor condition buildings at over 500 schools.

​It is the responsibility of those who run schools, such as academy trusts, local authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies, to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools based on local knowledge of their estates. They decide how to use annual funding provided, or when to apply to central programmes. Where there are serious issues with buildings that cannot be managed independently the department provides additional support on a case by case basis.

This government introduced the Condition Data Collection (CDC), the first ever comprehensive survey of the school estate and one of the largest data collection programmes of its kind in Europe. Thanks to our evidence led approach, following the James Review of Capital in 2011, this government has been able to allocate capital funding based on consistent data on condition need. Almost all government funded schools in England were visited as part of the CDC programme between 2017 and 2019. Key findings from the CDC programme can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60af7cbbe90e071b54214c82/Condition_of_School_Buildings_Survey_CDC1_-_key_findings_report.pdf.

This reported a total modelled remediation cost of £11.4 billion to repair or replace building components rated less than good (Grade A), which included elements which were rated as satisfactory.

Significant capital investment has been provided since the CDC was carried out. Condition Data Collection 2 (CDC2) started in 2021 and will complete in 2026. It will provide the department with an improved and up to date evidence base on building condition to inform future capital policy and programmes. Early indications from our CDC2 data collection to date, and feedback from responsible bodies, showed that in almost every case where a D grade component was identified in the CDC1 report, it has since been addressed.

Funding for capital programmes up to 2024/25 comes from the department’s overall £19 billion capital budget set at the 2021 Spending Review. Capital budgets beyond 2024/25 will be determined through a Spending Review, in the normal way.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs: Hertfordshire
Thursday 21st March 2024

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March to Question 17451 on Special Educational Needs: Finance, whether Hertfordshire County Council was one of the local authorities from which her Department received a high-quality application through the most recent special free schools application round.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department received a total of 85 applications from local authorities to open a special free school in a very competitive application round, including an application from Hertfordshire County Council.

The department plans to select a further 15 successful applications. This will remain a competitive process. This approach means we can move quickly to appoint trusts to run these schools.

The department plans to announce those local authorities that have been successful for the additional special free schools later this year.


Written Question
Integrated Schools: Finance
Tuesday 12th March 2024

Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)

Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the Answer of 6 March 2024 to Question 16419 on Integrated Schools: Northern Ireland, on what date the Northern Ireland Executive was informed of the removal of the ring-fence for the £150m Fresh Start Agreement funding.

Answered by Steve Baker - Minister of State (Northern Ireland Office)

HM Treasury officials wrote to their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Department of Finance on 1 March 2024 formally confirming the removal of the ring-fence for £150 million of Fresh Start Agreement funding.

This formal confirmation followed official level discussions between the UK Government and the Northern Ireland Civil Service on UK Government funding streams being made available within the financial package to support the restored Executive.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Friday 8th March 2024

Asked by: Munira Wilson (Liberal Democrat - Twickenham)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional capital funding has been spent in each of the local authorities with a Dedicated schools grant: very high deficit intervention to support delivery of the agreement where this forms part of the agreement.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The Safety Valve programme targets the local authorities with the highest Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) deficits. The programme requires the local authorities involved to develop substantial plans for reform to their high needs systems, with support and challenge from the department, to rapidly place them on a sustainable footing. If the local authorities can demonstrate sufficiently that their DSG management plans create lasting sustainability and are effective for children and young people, including reaching an in-year balance as quickly as possible, then the department will enter into an agreement to hold the authority to account for delivery.

Through the agreements, the authorities are subsequently held to account for their reform and savings targets via regular reporting to the department. The department will help the local authorities with additional revenue funding over time to contribute to their historic deficits, but this is contingent on delivery of the reforms in the agreements.

Capital funding is a necessary feature of many local authorities’ DSG management plans, in cases where investment in local infrastructure will result in the availability of more appropriate provision and subsequent revenue savings. Local authorities with Safety Valve agreements are therefore invited to apply for additional high needs capital funding, to be provided as a one-off ‘top-up’ to their high needs provision capital allocations (HNPCA).

Out of the 34 local authorities that currently have Safety Valve agreements, we have allocated additional capital funding to 22. The funding allocated to these local authorities is set out below:

Local Authority

Additional capital funding allocated through the Safety Valve programme

Bury

£3,780,514

Hammersmith and Fulham

£1,220,814

Kingston upon Thames

£3,616,603

Richmond upon Thames

£3,851,165

Stoke-on-Trent

£7,530,904

Hillingdon

£6,962,000

Kirklees

£8,200,000

Merton

£8,270,367

Rotherham

£4,323,436

Surrey

£8,558,437

York

£3,000,000

Bolton

£9,903,319

Cambridgeshire

£11,290,000

Haringey

£7,000,000

Medway

£7,188,479

Southwark

£3,000,000

Bath and North East Somerset

£4,000,000

Bexley

£9,500,000

Blackpool

£6,153,346

North Somerset

£2,918,000

North Tyneside

£4,681,000

Wokingham

£6,332,300

Total

£131,280,684

The 12 local authorities that did not receive additional capital either did not apply or did not successfully demonstrate to the department that capital support was necessary to support their DSG management plans.

In order to receive additional capital funding, local authorities’ proposals must demonstrate how investment would align to the reform plans and savings targets in their Safety Valve agreements. Proposals also need to show how capital plans will meet identified gaps in provision and improve the local provision offer. Once funding is allocated, local authorities have appropriate flexibility to make sensible adjustments to their plans, reflecting that the statutory duty to provide sufficient school places remains with the local authority.

6 local authorities are currently in Safety Valve negotiations with the department and have also been invited to apply for capital funding. The outcome of those negotiations and any additional capital funding being allocated will be communicated to local authorities shortly, and additional capital funding will be paid to local authorities as part of their 2024/25 HNPCA allocations later this year.


Written Question
Schools: Finance
Tuesday 5th March 2024

Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help mitigate the impact of inflation on real terms funding received by schools.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The government is committed to providing a world class education system for all children and has invested significantly in education to achieve that.

School funding is rising to £59.6 billion, from this April, meaning schools will be funded at their highest ever level in real terms per pupil. The government invested an additional £2 billion for both this year and next, announced at the 2022 Autumn Statement. As well as extra funding for the 2023 teachers’ pay award, ensuring it was properly funded.


Written Question
Transform Schools (Stoke)
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the financial impact of contracts with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited on existing school budgets.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.

The department supports schools that have unavoidable extra costs related to their PFI contracts through the ‘PFI factor’ in the schools national funding formula.

Local authorities determine individual schools’ final funding allocations through their own local formula. Local authorities can choose if, and how, to operate a PFI factor in their local funding formula. How they do this will vary between local authorities, reflecting in each case the specific nature of the PFI contract in question.

The purpose of the factor is to fund the additional costs to a school of being in a PFI contract, but not necessarily the full cost, as some costs may be covered within other factors and are not unique to PFI schools.

In 2024/25, the department is allocating £3.1 million in funding through the PFI factors for schools in Stoke.


Written Question
Transform Schools (Stoke)
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in Stoke-on-Trent were built under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.

From the information provided by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the department understands that the 13 schools listed in the attached PDF were built under the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited (TSSL). The department is also aware that other schools covered by the same contract received various levels of refurbishment. Stoke-on-Trent City Council will hold the detail relating to this.


Written Question
Transform Schools (Stoke)
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools in Stoke-on-Trent are included in the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Ltd.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The Stoke Local Authority school private finance initiative (PFI) contract was signed in the year 2000 and covers 88 schools in the area. The contracts were commonplace from 1998 to 2009. The department recognises that some schools with PFI contracts face higher costs.

Information on the Stoke-on-Trent schools in the PFI contract with Transform Schools (Stoke) Limited was provided by the local authority and can be found in the attached PDF.