Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in Chelmsford constituency received school improvement grants in (a) 2010-2017 and (b) 2017-2023; how many grants were received in each period; and what the total amount for each school was in each period.

Departmental records show that between 2010 and 2017 five schools in Chelmsford constituency received or benefited from specific school improvement grants, and between 2017 and the end of December 2023 ten schools received or benefited from specific school improvement grants.

The following grants have been included in this analysis:

• Regional Academy Growth Fund (RAGF) 2016/17
• Multi-academy Trust Development and Improvement Fund (MDIF) 2018/19
• Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) - 2019 to date
• Strategic School Improvement Capital Budget (SSICB) - 2016 to date
• Environmental Improvement Grant (EIG) - 2016 to date
• Emergency Strategic Improvement Fund (ESIF) - 2017 to date
• School Improvement offer (SI) - 2018 to 2020
• Trust and School Improvement offer (TSI) – 2021 to date.

The department has also included grants allocated for sponsored academy conversions (2010 to date), as well as grants for transferring academies between trusts (2012 to date) because these grants may include elements for school improvement activities.

The department has limited this analysis to these grants as they can be quantified for some of the time periods requested. The department's policy of retaining financial records for seven years limits access to data before the 2016/17 financial year. Other department grants may contribute less directly to wider school improvement. In addition, many of these and other grants are allocated via academy trusts or other organisations, and so schools may benefit indirectly without being the designated recipient from department. Finally, not all grant programs have been operational throughout the entire period between 2010 and 2023.

For a summary of the grants awarded, and for relevant school-level data, please refer to the tables below:

Table 1: Summary of school improvement grants paid for supporting schools in Chelmsford constituency.

* Grant programme not operating during this period.

** The RAGF, MDIF, and TCAF funds support growth in the capacity of academy trusts to oversee academies. Funding is allocated to trusts, and available data only reflects the total amounts received at the trust level. We are unable to attribute specific portions of the funding awarded under the RAGF, MDIF or TCaF programmes to individual school improvement efforts within any given trust or locality.

Table 2: Value of school improvement grants awarded where it is possible to identify a value attributable to the Chelmsford constituency.