Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how schools will be funded to continue to deliver the additional services they are providing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of the three year increase to core funding, the biggest in a decade, schools have received a £2.6 billion increase in funding in financial year 2020/21 and will receive a further £4.8 billion increase in 2021/22, compared to 2019/20. The Department has also provided a range of funding and support to schools since March 2020 to help with the challenges of responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes making available:

• Exceptional costs funding. The Covid Exceptional Costs fund was established to reimburse schools for costs such as additional cleaning. Schools have been paid £139 million for all claims within the published scope of the fund across both application windows.
• £1 billion catch-up funding announced in June 2020, including a one off £650 million catch-up premium and £350 million to support tutoring across the National Tutoring Programme and 16 to 19 tuition fund, which will go to schools, colleges and other 16 to 19 providers.
• A further £700 million recovery package announced in February 2021, including a new one off £302 million Recovery Premium for state primary and secondary schools in academic year 2021/22, £200 million for summer schools, and a further £200 million expansion to tutoring including support for early language development.
• Free school meals support. Schools have been able to use either the national voucher scheme, where costs were met centrally, or claim back additional funding to provide meal parcels or locally arranged vouchers for children who would be eligible for free school meals while children were educated from home. This funding has been in addition to the free school meals and universal infants free school meals funding that is with schools. As well as this, the free school meals supplementary grant was extended into 2020/21. This grant provides schools with extra funding to meet the costs of providing meals for newly eligible students before the lagged funding system catches up. The Department has made available over £760 million to support this.
• Remote education support. The Department has invested over £400 million to support access to technology and online social care services, including delivering 1.3 million laptops.
• Mass testing support. The Department has made over £100 million available on costs relating to the initial roll out of rapid mass testing.

My right hon. Friends, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education, have appointed Sir Kevan Collins as Education Recovery Commissioner to advise on the approach for education recovery, including to consider how schools and the system can use evidence and more effectively target resources and support at pupils and areas in greatest need.