Schools: Finance

(asked on 11th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in each year since 1995 in real terms (a) what total school funding there was, (b) what total secondary school funding there was, (c) what total primary school funding there was, (d) what total school funding per pupil there was, (e) what total secondary school funding was per pupil; and (f) what total primary school spending per pupil was.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 23rd April 2019

Per pupil funding in cash terms from 1996/97 to 2018/19, and total schools funding from 2001/02 to 2018/19 are set out in following tables. Before 2001 schools funding was included within the local government funding settlement. For this reason, the total funding prior to 2001 is not readily available. Before 2018/19 funding was not allocated separately for primary and secondary phases.

The government publishes gross domestic product deflators that can be used to understand the impact of inflation over time. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/gdp-deflators-at-market-prices-and-money-gdp-october-2018-budget-2018.

Table 1

Funding 1996/97 to 2000/01

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/00

2000/01

Funding for schools (£m) cash terms

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Funding per pupil cash term

£2,178

£2,352

£2,485

£2,673

£2,938

Per pupil funding to local authorities for financial years based on Standard Spending Assessment (SSA) allocations for pupils aged 3 to 15.

Table 2

Funding 2001/02 to 2005/06

2001/02

2002/03

2003/04

2004/05

2005/06

Funding for schools (£m) cash terms

21,710

23,683

25,169

27,244

28,944

Funding per pupil cash terms

£3,184

£3,367

£3,612

£3,853

£4,132

Funding to local authorities based on SSA to 2003/04 and Education Formula Share (EFS) allocations from 2003/04 for pupils aged 3 to 15.

Table 3

Funding 2006/07 to 2012/13

2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

Funding for schools (£m) cash terms

30,638

32,353

33,477

34,710

36,506

37,167

38,035

Funding per pupil cash term

£4,200

£4,487

£4,687

£4,887

£5,143

£5,169

£5,245

Up to 2010/11, the figures include the total Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) (schools block, early years block and the high needs block), and other schools related grants. From 2011/12 the total funding figures includes the DSG, the pupil premium and other schools related grants.

Table 4

Funding 2013/14 to 2018/19

Financial year

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

Funding for schools

40,861

42,466

43,965

44,413

45,742

46,332

(£ million)

High Needs Block

4,967

5,184

5,247

5,300

5,827

6,115

(£ million)

Schools Block

30,412

30,655

32,168

32,650

33,094

33,684

(£ million)

Schools block unit of funding (£)

4,551

4,555

4,612

4,636

4,619

n/a

Schools block primary unit of funding (£)

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

4,058

Schools block secondary unit of funding (£)

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

5,229

From 2013/14, per pupil funding figures are based on the DSG schools block only. Schools receive funding on top of this through the pupil premium, primary PE and sport premium, Year 7 Catch Up premium and the grant to support universal infant free school meals (from 2014/2015). In 2017/18, the balance between the schools and high needs block was re-set, with some £250 million being transferred from the schools block to the high needs block, to better reflect the actual spending decisions that local authorities had been taking. This accounts for the apparent reduction in the School Block Unit of Funding in that year. Before 2018/19, schools block funding was not allocated separately for primary and secondary phases.

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