Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of the level of funding allocation on (a) pupils and (b) levels of attainment.

The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has invested significantly in education to achieve that. The Schools White Paper (2022) set out a long term vision for a school system that helps every pupil to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time, founded on achieving world class standards in literacy and numeracy.

Funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £57.7 billion in 2023/24. This is following an over £3.9 billion increase in 2023/24, which follows a further £4 billion increase in 2022/23; representing a 16% increase in two years. Next financial 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.

The National Funding Formula (NFF) continues to distribute this funding fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts. While the bulk of funding is distributed through basic entitlement funding, which every pupil attracts regardless of their location or circumstances, in 2023/24 17.4% (£7.2 billion) of the schools NFF has been allocated through additional needs factors based on pupils’ level of deprivation, low prior attainment, English as an additional language and mobility. In 2023/24, the most deprived schools have, on average, attracted the largest per pupil funding increases through the schools NFF.

Schools also receive the Pupil Premium, which enables them to provide extra support and so improve disadvantaged pupils’ academic and personal achievements. Pupil Premium rates have increased by 5% for 2023/24, taking total Pupil Premium funding to almost £2.9 billion. The National Tutoring Programme funds schools to provide small group tuition based on rates of disadvantage. Since its launch in November 2020, more than £1 billion has been made available to support nearly 4 million tutoring courses, as of July 2023.

The Department’s funding system gives head teachers and teachers autonomy over their funding to direct it in the most effective way. Head teachers are best placed to know what will most benefit their pupils, and the Department trusts them to make the right decisions around how to spend the funding that they receive to best support pupils and their attainment.