Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools that have had to (a) reduce subjects, (b) rely on non-specialist teaching staff and (c) remove extracurricular opportunities due to funding shortfalls.

School funding is increasing by £3.7 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, and a further £4.2 billion by 2028/29, reaching £69.5 billion. This will provide an above real terms per pupil increase on the core schools budget and help transform the special educational needs and disabilities system.

The department is seeing positive signs for recruitment and retention. The secondary and special school workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, where workforce growth is most needed. We are offering bursaries worth up to £29,000 and scholarships worth up to £31,000, tax-free, to encourage more talented people into key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing.

The department knows reprioritising schools’ budgets and ensuring best value can be challenging, but it is in line with asks to the rest of the public sector. We also know it is a joint responsibility of the government and the entire school system. We will tackle systemic issues that drive costs, establishing a new programme later this year to help schools and groups free up resources to invest in what matters most, teaching, learning, and support for pupils.