Schools: North of England

(asked on 28th June 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money allocated to the Northern Powerhouse schools strategy has been spent (a) in total, (b) in Bradford and (c) on teacher recruitment.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 3rd July 2018

In answer to part (a) how much money has been spent in total and part (c) how much money has been spent on teacher recruitment, I refer the hon. Member for Bradford East, to the answer I gave on 11 June 2018 to Question 140739 https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-05-02/140739/.

This sets out how the government has spent or committed more than £70 million to support educational improvement in the North, including on teacher recruitment.

In answer to part (b), we are not able to provide a total figure for Bradford as some funding, such as funding to grow the capacity of multi-academy trusts, is spent or allocated to support schools across more than one local authority. Some examples of how the Department is supporting Bradford schools are set out below:

  • We are supporting teacher recruitment and providing tailored support to some of the schools facing significant recruitment and retention issues. We have already started to support a number of schools in Bradford and will increase that support over the next two years through the tailored support programme.
  • We are also investing in Bradford’s teachers through the Opportunity Area (OA). Bradford4Teaching is the city’s innovative campaign to attract the best teachers to live, work and build a career in Bradford. The campaign was developed and has been delivered in partnership by Bradford Council and the Northern Lights Teaching School Alliance. Through the OA programme, we are committed to invest at least £250,000 to extend the campaign. The Department is also committing an additional £1.5 million to support school improvement in Bradford’s most challenging schools through the OA programme. In total, as part of the OA programme, we are spending £72 million across 12 areas of the country facing challenges and Bradford will benefit from a share of that.
  • The regional academy growth fund supports successful trusts to grow and to improve standards in underperforming schools. Schools in Bradford that are underperforming have already benefited from this funding.
  • Through the Strategic School Improvement Fund, five applicants are supporting a total of 43 schools in Bradford. Two of the five applicants are exclusively supporting 31 Bradford schools and have been awarded funding totalling £807,970. The remaining three applications are supporting a total of 78 schools at a cost of £809,157. 12 of these schools are located in Bradford but it is not possible to isolate spend for the Bradford schools.
Reticulating Splines