Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what funds have been given to the Educational Endowment Foundation in each year since its establishment; what underspends by her Department have been repaid to the Treasury in each of the last 10 years; how much was granted for Academies Conversion; on what it has been spent; and how much has been returned to the Treasury.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) was established in March 2011 with an endowment of £125 million from the Department. Since then, the Department has awarded a further £12 million of funding to the EEF - £10 million in 2012 to support literacy catch-up for children at the transition from primary to secondary school;

£1 million in 2013 to fund pilot studies that test approaches to engaging teachers with research evidence in ways that have an impact on teaching practice; and £1 million in 2014 to expand research into the most effective ways that character can be taught in schools.

The table below shows net underspend based on the Department’s total expenditure (both resource and capital expenditure, aggregated) compared to the budgeted amount permitted to be spent by the Department in that year’s Parliamentary Estimate. The figures are drawn from the audited Statement of Parliamentary Supply in the relevant Department for Education and Skills; Department for Children, Schools and Families; and Department for Education Annual Report and Accounts (‘Resource Accounts’ prior to 2010-11).

Between 2010 and 2016, the Government spent £332m to support schools to become academies. During the same period, there have been nearly 5,000 academies opened. The vast majority of spend has been used for grants to schools to support them to convert to academy status.

The level of grants for sponsored projects has varied since 2010, when the academies programme began to expand under the coalition government. Since this expansion, the costs per sponsored academy have come down significantly, reflecting efficiencies implemented by the Department.

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 attend to and reflect on the discussions around it. After listening to the sector, in May 2016 the Department confirmed that it would no longer be pursuing full academisation by 2022.

It remains our ambition that all schools will become academies, but removing the requirement for this to happen by 2022 means that our spending on school support will depend on the new rate of academy conversion. We are monitoring this and will allocate funds according to the expected rate and need. Indicatively, in 2016-17 we expect to spend around £90 million on supporting schools to convert, supporting sponsors to turn around the schools they take on, and supporting strong multi-academy trusts to deliver for pupils.