Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to his oral answer of 19 March 2018, on the National Funding Formula, Official Report, column 5, what the evidential basis is for his statement that real-term funding is increasing.

The Department has made a significant investment, providing an additional £1.3 billion across 2018/19 and 2019/20, over existing plans. In 2019/20, total funding in the core schools budget will be more than 6% higher than in 2017/18. Over the same period, the GDP deflator is estimated to be 3.1%. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed that overall across the country funding per pupil will now be maintained in real terms up to 2020.