Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the required level of (a) qualifications and (b) experience is for school efficiency advisers; how such advisers are recruited; and what the average rate of pay has been of such advisers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Institute of School Business Leaders Fellows are an established, experienced resource with current knowledge of the sector and of school business leadership. In order to achieve fellowship status, they must have demonstrated a high level of professional expertise.
The Department has introduced a robust training and accreditation process, which is designed to provide assurance that school efficiency advisers (SEA) are proficient and can take a consistent approach to the analysis of key efficiency metrics.
The day rate of a SEA will be £500, including travel. These experts will start working with schools in early 2018 as part of our initial pilot.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which schools and trusts will receive support from schools efficiency advisers during the pilot phase; and how such schools and trusts were selected.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In this pilot phase, the Department is prioritising support to trusts and schools which have the greatest need. As part of the pilot, we are taking a more proactive approach with local authorities to support their work with maintained schools and, where required, the Education and Skills Funding Agency will consider the use of School Efficiency Advisers (SEAs). Over time, and subject to the outcome of the pilot, we will expand the pool of SEAs and therefore be able to support a wider range of trusts/schools.
The Department has used schools’ and trusts’ financial data to build a picture of the sector as a whole. Using this data, and discussions with trusts, we have identified those trusts who may benefit from working with a SEA.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding will be available for the schools efficiency adviser programme; and how much has been spent or allocated to date.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The pilot will test how school efficiency advisers (SEAs) deliver value for money for the taxpayer and drive significant savings in schools at a cost efficient rate. We will monitor effectiveness and cost as part of the pilot, which will be used to determine the ultimate size of the programme.
To date, we have spent approximately £33,000 on the contract with Institue of School Business Leaders to support the pilot.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what efficiency savings targets have been set by his Department for the schools efficiency adviser programme.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The School Efficiency Adviser (SEA) project is one part of a wider programme, which is committed to helping schools improve their efficiency, including saving £1 billion on non-staff spend on schools by 2019-2020. The Department already provides support, guidance and tools in order to help schools achieve the best value from their resources, improve pupil outcomes and promote social mobility.
The pilot will test how SEAs deliver value for money for the taxpayer and drive significant savings in schools at a cost efficient rate. We will monitor effectiveness and cost as part of the pilot.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria his Department will use to decide whether the school efficiency adviser pilots were successful enough to roll out the project; and who will be responsible for making that decision.
Answered by Nick Gibb
School efficiency advisers (SEAs) are one part of the Department’s school efficiency and financial health policy. The Department has committed to provide efficiency experts where appropriate to support schools to improve their efficiency and financial health. We are piloting the provision of this expertise through SEAs, working with the Institute for School Business Leadership.
The overall objective of the support provided by the SEA is that the school can identify how it can improve its efficiency and make best use of its resources. In assessing the programme we will consider the value for money to the taxpayer and the effectiveness of the SEA approach in terms of delivering efficiency savings for the sector.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with Universities UK on proposals to close the Universities Superannuation Scheme to future accrual; and what estimate she has made of the financial effect of those proposals on academic staff at UK universities.
Answered by Lord Johnson of Marylebone
Universities are autonomous institutions and they are responsible for their own pension provision. Government has no role in relation to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) beyond regulation as is applied to all workplace pension schemes by The Pensions Regulator.
Neither my Rt hon. Friend the Secretary of State nor the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation has discussed the USS with Universities UK (UUK) or the University and College Union. Officials have sought updates from UUK on the latest developments regarding the USS. These were informal discussions and there were no outcomes.
The department has made no assessment of the impact of the proposed changes to the USS, and believes it would be inappropriate to comment.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what data the Department collects on the number and proportion of staff employed by (a) academy and (b) free schools who are paid through trusts rather than through PAYE.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not collected by the Department.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of (a) departmental employees and (b) maintained school staff are paid through trusts rather than through PAYE.
Answered by Robert Goodwill
The Department for Education does not pay any of its employees through trusts. The department does not hold information about the payment of staff employed in maintained schools.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much public funding has been spent on the schools efficiency taskforce; how many people that taskforce employs; how many schools that taskforce has visited; how much efficiency savings that taskforce has found; what estimate she has made of the savings that taskforce will make in the future; and whether she plans to undertake an assessment of the value for money of that taskforce.
Answered by Nick Gibb
In July 2017 we announced an additional £1.3 billion 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.
Alongside our substantial investment, we are committed to helping schools maximise efficiencies. As part of this support and where appropriate, we will provide efficiency experts to schools. This additional support will be focused on providing practical advice to maximise efficiencies. These experts will start working with schools in early 2018 as part of our initial pilot. This pilot will allow us to better assess the impact of the support going forward.
Asked by: Roger Godsiff (Labour - Birmingham, Hall Green)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the proposed additional £1.3 billion of funding for schools will be allocated; and how much of that funding will be provided to schools in (a) Birmingham and (b) Birmingham Hall Green constituency.
Answered by Nick Gibb
My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, announced an additional £1.3 billion for schools and high needs across 2018-19 and 2019-20, in addition to the schools budget set at Spending Review 2015, on 17 July. As a result, core funding for schools will rise from almost £41 billion in 2017-18 to £42.4 billion in 2018-19 and £43.5 billion in 2019-20, representing an increase in the total schools budget of over 6% between this year and 2019-20. This means funding per pupil will now be maintained in real terms for the remaining two years of this Spending Review.
We have now announced details of our final national funding formula for schools, and the funding it will allocate for schools and local authorities, including schools in Birmingham and Birmingham Hall Green. Full details are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tables-for-schools-and-high-needs.