Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much additional funding her Department would require in order to ensure that no school saw a cut in its budget for 2017-18 as part of the Schools National Funding Formula.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In December 2016 the Department confirmed dedicated schools grant (DSG) funding settlements for 2017-18 to local authorities. For all local authorities, funding has been protected in cash terms per pupil. Further details are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-dsg-2017-to-2018.
In 2017-18, individual schools’ funding is decided at a local authority level. The Department allocates funding to each local authority, who then allocate this funding to their schools using their local formulae. The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) ensures that the maximum any individual school can lose is 1.5% per pupil. Local authorities are now finalising and will shortly be confirming their 2017-18 funding to schools. Further information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/school-revenue-funding-settlement-for-2017-to-2018.
We are currently consulting on our proposals for a National Funding Formula, which will come into force in 2018-19. The consultation will run until March 22nd and is available at https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula2/.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of primary school pupils are in receipt of free school meals in Halifax constituency.
Answered by Edward Timpson
Data for the number of pupils eligible for free school meals in each school in England are available in the underlying data in the annual ‘Schools, pupils and their characteristics’ statistical release.[1]
The number and proportion of pupils, attending primary school in Halifax constituency in Calderdale local authority, who were known to be eligible for free school meals[2] in 2016 is given below.
These figures do not include infant pupils who are not eligible for free school meals based on the standard criteria, but who can receive a meal under the universal infant free school meals programme.
Primary school pupils | Halifax parliamentary constituency |
Number of pupils (headcount) | 10,391 |
Number known to be eligible for and claiming FSM | 1,841 |
Proportion known to be eligible for and claiming FSM | 17.7% |
Source: School Census, January 2016
[1] www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-school-and-pupil-numbers - click on the relevant year and then ‘underlying data.’ The data are contained in files with ‘Schools_Pupils’ in the title.
[2] Not all children assessed as eligible for free school meals will have taken a lunch on census day.
Asked by: Holly Lynch (Labour - Halifax)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what advice her Department is providing to schools projected to see reductions in funding under the Schools National Funding Formula on how to balance their budgets.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Our proposals for funding reform will mean that schools and local authority areas will, for the first time, receive a consistent and fair share of the schools budget, so that they can give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential.
For Calderdale, the proposals would mean an increase in schools funding of 1.3%, and an increase of 9.7% for high needs funding.
We are also committed to providing support for schools to improve their financial health and efficiency. We have produced a collection of tools, information and guidance, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency. The collection includes guidance on workforce planning, financial management, benchmarking, and buying for schools.