Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to Answer of 1 December 2017 to Question 114844, what estimate he has made of the level of savings by schools of using the risk protection arrangement scheme instead of commercial cover.

As a result of the reduction in the per pupil risk protection arrangement (RPA) general annual grant deduction from £25 to £20 from September 2016, academy trusts realise direct savings of £5 per pupil and are expected to directly save a total of £22 million by August 2018.

Analysis of academy account returns from academic year 2015/16 show that on average, an RPA member will spend £36.68 per pupil on all their insurance requirements, whereas a non-member will spend on average £54.07. This indicates that there is a saving of around £17.39 per pupil for schools which opt into the RPA. Applying the above figures across 2014/15 & 2015/16 we estimate that the RPA would have saved £83.1 million in relation to members.

Over the first two years of operation, we have also seen commercial premiums drop from an average of £75.05 per pupil in academic year 2013/14 before the RPA launched. Applying the above figures across 2014/15 and 2015/16 we estimate that the RPA would have saved £63.6 million in relation to non-members.

Please note that these figures are based on the latest account return data and the savings cannot be linked directly to the RPA.