Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to her oral statement of 17 July 2017 Official Report, column 564, whether she plans to protect funding for pupils with additional needs in (a) cash terms or (b) real terms.

We announced an additional £1.3 billion of investment in schools and high needs on 17th July, and confirmed the introduction of the national funding formula from 2018-19. Over the next two years, the core schools budget will be maintained in real terms per pupil.

The additional investment will allow us, through the national funding formula, to continue to protect funding for pupils with additional needs, as we proposed in December.

The details of the formula will be set out in September when we respond in full to the consultation.