Schools: Solihull

(asked on 2nd June 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department made available to Solihull Council as part of the School Improvement, Monitoring and Brokering Grant.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 12th June 2023

The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding in education to achieve that.

The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the financial years 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review. This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in 2022/23. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) High Needs Block allocations for the 2023/24 financial year for Solihull is £38,474,528 (after recoupment and deductions).

Total funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level in real terms spending in schools in history.

The Government funds Local Authorities to deliver the early years entitlements through the early years block of the DSG. The published early years block allocation for the 2023/24 financial year for Solihull is £16,971,915.

The final School Improvement and Monitoring Grant allocation made to Solihull Local Authority in October 2022 was £42,439. This was a ringfenced grant designed to support councils to monitor performance of maintained schools, broker school improvement provision, and intervene as appropriate. The functions this grant covered are now funded from maintained schools’ budgets.

The final COVID-19 Catch Up Premium allocation for 2020/21 for Solihull was £517,788. The Catch Up Premium was followed by the Recovery Premium, which is worth over £1.3 billon for state funded schools in England, across the 2021/22 and 2023/24 academic years. The Recovery Premium was, and continues to be, targeted towards disadvantaged pupils. Solihull’s indicative Recovery Premium allocation for 2022/23 is £784,379.

Since September 2014, all pupils in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 in England's state funded schools, including academies and free schools, are entitled to free school meals. Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) are funded through a direct grant to schools. In June 2022, the Government announced an increase to £2.41 per pupil in UIFSM funding. This was uplifted from £2.34 in June 2022 and backdated to 1 April 2022 in recognition of the cost pressures schools were facing. The UIFSM provisional allocation for Solihull for 2022/23 is £976,708.

The Pupil Premium provides additional funding to support disadvantaged pupils. Pupil Premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24, taking the provisional Pupil Premium allocation in 2023/24 for Solihull to £13,469,085.

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