Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with trade unions on trends in levels of per pupil spending since 2010-11.

The Department meets regularly with trade unions to discuss a wide range of issues, including school funding.

The November 2022 Autumn Statement announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review, and matching what unions told us was needed in their open letter last year.

The Department recognises that inflation continues to impact schools, as it does in other sectors. In July 2023, the Department announced an additional £525 million this year to support schools with the teachers’ pay award, and £900 million in 2024/25.

This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is over £3.9 billion higher in 2023/24 alone, compared to 2022/23, in addition to a £4 billion cash increase last year. That’s a 16% increase in two years. Next year, school funding will be more than £59.6 billion, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil, as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.