Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps he has taken to assess the financial position of schools in York.

The schools sector remains financially stable, with high standards of financial management and governance.

The primary responsibility for the oversight of each academy trust, including their financial position, rests with the trustees themselves. The department expects trustees to deliver strong governance, monitor the financial health of their trust and ensure every pound is well spent. The department plays an important role to build the financial capacity and the capability of academy trusts. This includes using a range of data, including audited accounts and three-year budget forecasts, to identify where there may be issues, and taking a risk-based approach, working with the sector to support and intervene proportionately on the rare occasions when needed.

Local authorities are accountable for maintained schools’ finances. The department’s role is to support local authorities in their efforts to strengthen the financial accountability and efficiency of the maintained schools sector.

The department supports both maintained schools and academies through the School Resource Management programme. This helps schools improve outcomes for pupils by offering a suite of services to support greater financial efficiency. Details are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/schools-financial-health-and-efficiency.

The department publishes individual school and academy financial data, including for all schools in York, and this is easily accessible on the schools financial benchmarking website, available here: https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/.