Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason her Department plans to return budgetary provision allocated to supporting the costs of academisation to HM Treasury.

Through our careful management of the economy we have been able to protect the core schools budget in real terms. That means schools are receiving more funding than ever before for children’s education, totalling over £40 billion this year.

When the Government launched our Educational Excellence Everywhere White Paper, it was clear that we would listen and reflect on the discussions. After listening to the sector, in May 2016 the Department confirmed that it would no longer be pursuing full academisation by 2022. Removing the absolute time pressure changes the scale of financial support we need to make available over the remainder of this Parliament

It remains the Government’s ambition that the whole school system ultimately benefits from the autonomy and freedom to innovate that academy status brings, and that schools work together in collaboration through strong multi-academy trusts. The Department still has sufficient funding – voted during the Spending Review – to ensure schools can take advantage of the opportunities available by becoming an academy. This includes funding to support schools to convert and to build capacity in the system, including recruiting excellent sponsors and encouraging the development of strong multi-academy trusts.