Michael Fallon

The Department maintains a formal process for individual institutions to share their school funding concerns.

Academies are able to raise concerns with their regional Education and Skills Funding Agency contacts.

Concerns about the finances of individual maintained schools should be raised with their maintaining local authority.

If individual academies or maintained schools have concerns over the local distribution of the funding they should discuss this with their school forum.

At a national level, officials convene regular meetings of the School and Academy Funding Group and its corresponding sub-groups, which have membership from a wide range of organisations representing schools and academies, local authorities, teachers and head teachers, to advise the Department on matters relating to all aspects of school and high needs funding.

The statutory School Admissions Code requires schools to provide for the admission of all children, including those born prematurely, in the September following their fourth birthday. A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following their fifth birthday, or on their fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day. The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August. Parents can defer their child’s admission to school until they reach compulsory school age, or may arrange for them to attend part time until this point, but all children must receive suitable full time education from the point at which they reach compulsory school age.

If the national funding formula were implemented in full, the schools in question would receive the following increases in the funding they attract compared to their baseline, based on 2017-18 data:

Amherst School – 9.7%, or £310 more per pupil

Seal CE Primary School – 8.3%, or £300 more per pupil

Weald Community Primary School – 3.8%, or £142 more per pupil

Riverhead Infants’ School – 3.1%, or £108 more per pupil

Dunton Green Primary School – 8.9%, or £339 more per pupil

For all but one of the above schools, their increases are greater than the national average for primary schools of 3.3%, or £135 per pupil.

Amherst School, Weald Community Primary School and Riverhead Infants’ School will attract their final formula allocation by 2019-20. Seal CE Primary School will attract an increase of 5.2% by 2019-20 and Dunton Green Primary School will attract an increase of 5.0% by 2019-20.

Individual schools’ actual budgets for 2018-19 and 2019-20 will be determined by the local authority, through the local school funding formula.

National funding formula allocations for local authorities and notional allocations for schools is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs.

School budgets in England are set using actual pupil numbers from the previous October school census. This lagged approach to funding provides certainty and stability, and means that schools have more lead-time to adjust their plans for any reduced levels of funding caused by falling pupil numbers. Both maintained schools and academies have a responsibility to set a balanced budget. Where schools experience financial difficulties the Department, in respect of academies, and the local authority, in respect of maintained schools, support them to produce a recovery plan. A local authority that wants to operate a falling rolls fund to support good or outstanding maintained schools and academies with falling pupil numbers where numbers will grow again within the next three years can retain funding for that purpose.

The department’s legislation and statutory guidance on exclusion makes it clear that any decision to exclude a pupil from school should be lawful, reasonable and fair. Schools must have regard to the exclusion guidance and follow the formal exclusion process set out in it.

Schools can exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons, and the department supports schools in using exclusion where this is warranted. Exclusion on any grounds other than discipline is unlawful. Where a pupil is asked to leave the school, the formal exclusions process set out in the statutory exclusion guidance must be followed. Schools may not exclude pupils because of their academic attainment or ability. In September the department wrote to all secondary schools and local authorities to remind them of these rules. The government recently announced an externally led review of the use of exclusions and implications for pupil groups disproportionately represented in the national statistics. Further details on the review will be made available in due course.

The department’s legislation and statutory guidance on exclusion makes it clear that any decision to exclude a pupil from school should be lawful, reasonable and fair. Schools must have regard to the exclusion guidance and follow the formal exclusion process set out in it.

Schools can exclude pupils, either permanently or for a fixed period, for disciplinary reasons, and the department supports schools in using exclusion where this is warranted. Exclusion on any grounds other than discipline is unlawful. Where a pupil is asked to leave the school, the formal exclusions process set out in the statutory exclusion guidance must be followed. Schools may not exclude pupils because of their academic attainment or ability. In September the department wrote to all secondary schools and local authorities to remind them of these rules. The government recently announced an externally led review of the use of exclusions and implications for pupil groups disproportionately represented in the national statistics. Further details on the review will be made available in due course.

This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to you and a copy of her reply will be placed in the House library.

In July 2017 we announced an additional £1.3billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, in addition to the schools budget set at Spending Review 2015. This means funding per pupil for schools and high needs will be maintained in real terms for the next two years. Following our announcement in September 2017, under the national funding formula, school funding will be distributed based on the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country.

We will publish evidence on the affordability and value for money of increases to teachers’ pay as part of the Department’s input to the School Teachers’ Review Body consideration on teachers’ pay for 2018/19.

The number of teachers is at an all-time high: there are now 457,300 full time equivalent teachers, up 15,500 from 2010. The number of new teachers entering our classrooms continues to outnumber those who retire or leave, and the number of teachers returning to the profession is 8% higher than in 2011.

We are continuing to offer generous bursaries to recruit the best graduates into the profession. From 2018 we are increasing funding across all high priority subjects. Our prestigious scholarship scheme will also continue, offering a package of tailored support and up to £28,000 tax-free for scholars in six subjects.

Teachers will benefit from the newly announced rise in the student loan repayment threshold and we will be piloting a new student loan reimbursement programme for science and Modern Foreign Language teachers in the early years of their career, targeted in the areas of the country that need them most.

We are taking action to address the factors that influence the decisions of those teachers who do decide to leave the profession. We recognised the problem of unnecessary workload when we launched the Workload Challenge in 2014. Our responses to this and the 2016 Teacher Workload Survey set out comprehensive programmes of action to be taken, including spreading best practice about workload reduction. We will continue our extensive work with the profession, teaching unions and Ofsted to support the retention of teachers.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools attract funding to their schools through the formula set by the school’s local authority. The funding formula is decided by each local authority in consultation with its schools, and local authorities are required to delegate funds through the formula to a level that enables schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with SEND up to £6,000 per annum. This constitutes each school’s notional SEND budget. Local authorities use various factors to give an estimate of the number of children with SEND a school is likely to have, and consequently the notional SEND budget that the school will receive. The introduction of a national funding formula for determining schools and local authorities’ funding from April 2018 will not change this arrangement.

The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2017 state that local authorities must identify each school’s notional SEND budget from which schools are expected to meet the additional costs of their pupils with SEND, up to £6,000 per annum. Schools should therefore discuss with their local authority how much is needed for this purpose.

Most small schools are rural and the Government recognises the importance of these schools to their communities. That is why there is a presumption against the closure of rural primary schools. While the presumption does not mean that rural primary schools will never close, it does require decision makers to consider factors such as the likely effect of the closure of the school on the local community, educational standards at the school, the impact on standards at neighbouring schools, the availability of transport to other schools, and any alternatives to the closure of the school.

We recognise that some schools are necessarily small because they are remote and do not have the same opportunities to grow or make efficiency savings as other schools. These schools can be especially important to their local communities, and ensure children do not have to travel long distances to school. That is why we have included dedicated sparsity funding in our new national funding formula (NFF), which will target funding to 19 of the most remote schools in Kent. Under the NFF, Kent would see an increase of 7.4% for its schools compared to 3.5% nationally.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools attract funding to their schools through the formula set by the school’s local authority. The funding formula is decided by each local authority in consultation with its schools, and local authorities are required to delegate funds through the formula to a level that enables schools to meet the additional cost of pupils with SEND up to £6,000 per annum. This constitutes each school’s notional SEND budget. Local authorities use various factors to give an estimate of the number of children with SEND a school is likely to have, and consequently the notional SEND budget that the school will receive. The introduction of a national funding formula for determining schools and local authorities’ funding from April 2018 will not change this arrangement.

The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2017 state that local authorities must identify each school’s notional SEND budget from which schools are expected to meet the additional costs of their pupils with SEND, up to £6,000 per annum. Schools should therefore discuss with their local authority how much is needed for this purpose.

In November 2017, the Secretary of State visited Oasis Academy Media City (M50 3UQ), Putney High School (SW15 6BH), The Alton School (SW15 4PD), Swanlea School (E1 5DJ) and Broadford Primary School (RM3 8JS).

The UK has pledged at least £5.8 billion of International Climate Finance (ICF) from 2016 until 2021 to support ambitious action by developing countries to mitigate and adapt to the worst impacts of climate change. This includes reducing emissions from deforestation and tackling poverty through the creation of sustainable livelihoods for forest dependent communities.

Since the start of the ICF in 2011, the UK has spent just over £800 million on forest and land use programmes, which includes projects that aim to preserve tropical rainforests and combat deforestation. The breakdown of funding each year is: £50 million in FY11-12, £64 million in FY12-13, £120 million in FY13-14, £248 million in FY14-15, £193 million in FY15-16, and £150 million in FY16-17.

The UK also undertakes long term research collaboration with tropical forest countries through the Newton Fund. For example, scientists in the UK and Latin America are working together on a new £1.5 million (2017-20) project to develop new biotechnologies through the region’s flora and fauna.