Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons his Department’s consultation includes proposals to support state schools and further education colleges but not higher education institutions with additional costs related to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme.

The Department is running a public consultation to gather further evidence on the impact of these changes on higher education institutions and independent schools before finalising funding arrangements for 2019-20. Our initial proposal is based on the fact that state schools and further education institutions are most directly funded by government grants. Our analysis on each sector (state schools, further education, higher education and independent schools) also suggests that these institutions are most exposed to the increase in employer pension contributions, and funding was therefore prioritised on this basis.