Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of providing schools with additional ringfenced funds to cover rising energy bills.

The department recognises the concern that schools will be facing cost pressures in the coming months, particularly due to the increase in energy prices. We are looking carefully at how this will impact schools and considering what additional support we can offer.

The department knows that the vast majority of school expenditure is devoted to staff costs. This means that even while energy costs are rising, inflation in this area would have an impact on a small portion of a school’s budget overall. Energy costs represented 1.3% of local authority maintained schools spending in the 2019/20 financial year and 1.4% of academy trust spending in the 2019/20 academic year. The department pays close attention to the financial health of the sector, and we are closely assessing where energy costs may more significantly impact schools’ financial health.

Cost increases should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools. The government is delivering a £4 billion cash increase in the core schools budget next year, taking total funding to £53.8 billion. This includes an additional £1.2 billion for schools in the new schools supplementary grant for the 2022/23 financial year. Overall, this represents a 7% cash terms per pupil boost, which will help schools meet the pressures we know they are facing.