Asked by: Lord Kinnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving to school headteachers and governors who are notifying parents that they need to make voluntary financial contributions to help offset higher operational and employment costs and real-terms reductions in public funding.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Department has published advice for head teachers to help ensure their charging policies comply with the law. The advice accurately reflects the terms of the Education Act 1996.
The ‘Charging for School Activities’ advice states schools can ask for voluntary contributions for the benefit of the school or any school activities. When schools request voluntary contributions they should not pressurise parents into paying and must make clear to parents there is no obligation to make any contribution.
The advice also states that no child should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay.
The core schools budget has been protected in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at more than £40bn in 2016-17.
The Government continues to provide support for schools to help them use their funding in the most cost effective ways, including improving the way they buy goods and services, so they get the best possible value.
Asked by: Lord Kinnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they will take to ensure that school spending choices do not put educational outcomes at risk.
Answered by Lord Nash
We want schools to have the resources they need so that every child has access to an education that fulfils their potential. We have protected the core schools budget in real terms overall. This year, it is the largest ever on record, totalling over £40 billion.
Evidence shows that high quality teaching is the most important school based determinant of pupil outcomes. We have published Workforce Planning Guidance to support schools to plan over the longer term, as part of regular school improvement, curriculum and financial planning. This is to help ensure that schools are always investing in the right mix of staff, and in high quality professional development, to deliver excellent pupil outcomes. This guidance is available, along with other tools to support schools to improve their financial health and efficiency at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency.
We have also published a Schools’ Buying strategy to help schools maximise savings from their £10 billion of non-staff spend. This means schools can invest more of their resources in the classroom, making even more of a difference to the children that need it most.
Asked by: Lord Kinnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice they are giving to parents who have been notified by their children's maintained schools of the need for voluntary financial contributions to offset higher operational and employment costs and real-terms reductions in public funding.
Answered by Lord Nash
The published advice ‘Charging for School Activities’ is available to parents.
The advice explains that schools can ask for voluntary contributions for the benefit of the school or any school activities. When schools make requests for contributions they should not make parents feel pressurised into paying and must make clear contributions are voluntary.
The advice also makes clear that no child should be excluded from an activity simply because his or her parents are unwilling or unable to pay.
Asked by: Lord Kinnock (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of increasing pupil numbers, what assessment they have made of the need for schools to make efficiency savings; and what action they are taking to support schools in this regard, including making savings in procurement and workforce spending.
Answered by Lord Nash
We want schools to have the resources they need so that every child has access to an education that fulfils their potential. We have protected the core schools budget in real terms overall. This year, it is the largest ever on record, totalling over £40 billion.
We recognise that schools, as with other public services, are facing broader cost pressures. In response to this we have produced tools, information and guidance for schools financial health and efficiency, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency.
We also know there is significant scope for savings in non-pay and procurement costs. We have launched a school buying strategy to support schools to seek to save over £1bn a year by 2019-20 on their non-staff spend.
The collection also includes Workforce Planning Guidance for schools. This guidance contains links to advice and case studies, as well as lists of options and questions for school leaders to consider when reviewing their staff structures.