Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what change there has been in the level of per pupil funding for pupils in special schools in County Durham in each of the last three financial years.
Special schools are funded through a combination of place funding and top-up funding from a local authority’s high needs budget. The high needs budget is allocated to each local authority who determine funding for special schools in their area. Local authorities also use their high needs budgets to pay top-up funding for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities in mainstream schools, and to fund alternative provision. Consequently, the department does not hold data on the level of per pupil funding for pupils in special schools in Durham.
The total high needs allocations for Durham for the past 3 years are as follows:
Year | High needs funding amount (total) |
2021-22 (provisional allocation) | £69,364,424 |
2020-21 | £61,157,652 |
2019-20 | £52,502,760 |
2018-19 | £50,003,532 |