Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the funding model for further education colleges; and if she will make a statement.
Answered by Robert Halfon
In January 2021, the government published the ‘Skills for Jobs’ White Paper, which sets out the department’s vision for a skills system that supports people to access the skills required to progress their careers and access the jobs the economy needs. In the two years since the department published the White Paper, we have also published two consultations on funding and accountability reforms. The department sought views on the strategic aims and on more detailed technical aspects of our reforms.
The government’s response to the second consultation, Skills for jobs: implementing a new further education funding and accountability system’ has now been published, summarising the responses received and detailing the department’s further education funding and accountability policy decisions. The government’s response is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-a-new-fe-funding-and-accountability-system.
On adult skills funding, the department’s aims have been to simplify the system and improve the outcomes achieved with taxpayer investment. On funding, the department is ensuring that providers can use the Adult Skills Fund flexibly and has set out the outcomes that tailored learning should support. The department has also introduced five new skills funding bands, with sector subject areas at tier 2 level assigned to one of these bands with specialist land-based provision, and areas of high policy importance such as functional skills continuing to receive higher levels of funding.
The department is increasing investment in adult skills with additional funding for apprenticeships and adult training through the National Skills Fund alongside increased funding in 16-19 and £2.8 billion of capital funding. The new skills funding rates will boost funding for 78% of courses from the 2024/25 academic year. In the interim period, the department is increasing the funding providers can earn within the adult education budget. All formula funded provision will see a 2.2% increase each year with further increases of 20% for specific high value subjects and the new funding rates for 2024/25 reflect these increases. The mayoral combined authorities and Greater London Authority are free to use their adult education budget allocation as they see fit.
The department is increasing funding for providers in advance of the new funding rates, by increasing provider earnings for the 2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years, which were announced recently. The department is allowing providers to use a proportion of their Adult Skills Fund allocation to work with employers to develop new innovative provision that meets local skills needs. The department is also maintaining the existing system of funding for disadvantage, learning support and learner support.
The department is continuing to look at how it can simplify funding further for further education, particularly in light of reclassification. This will include looking at the number and complexity of data returns, coordination of activity across devolved and non-devolved bodies, and streamlining processes and rules to reduce burden.
Asked by: Helen Morgan (Liberal Democrat - North Shropshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department accounted for additional (a) heating and (b) travel costs experienced in rural areas in calculating the minimum funding floor for the early years supplementary grant for September 2023.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The government recognises the current pressures faced by early years providers. That is why we are providing additional funding, through the early years supplementary grant (EYSG) from September 2023, for local authorities to increase the amount of funding paid to childcare providers for delivering the existing childcare entitlement offers.
With the additional funding provided through the EYSG, the minimum funding floor for the 3 and 4-year-old hourly funding rate will increase from £4.87 to an effective £5.20 per hour, in line with the expected increase in the effective combined national average rate (which will increase from £5.29 to £5.62 per hour).
The EYSG will be subject to conditions of grant which we expect to publish in September. The department’s intention is that local authorities must pass on the EYSG in full to early years providers.
In order to recognise cost variations between local authority areas, the department has used the existing funding formulae for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds to determine the EYSG rates for individual local authorities. This means there will be variation around the average increases stated below.
The existing funding system for 3 and 4-year-olds requires local authorities to set a local funding formula, which includes additional funding supplements. In their local formula, local authorities must have a deprivation supplement for 3 and 4-year-olds and are permitted to use other discretionary funding supplements, one of which is to recognise additional costs associated with rurality or sparsity, to enable local authorities to support providers serving rural areas less likely to benefit from economies of scale.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help schools plan their budgets for the 2023-2024 academic year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government is committed to providing a world class education system for all pupils and has provided significant funding in education to achieve that. The Autumn Statement 2022 announced additional funding of £2 billion in each of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years, over and above totals announced at the Spending Review 2021.
This means funding for mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in the 2023/24 financial year, compared to 2022/23 financial year. That is on top of the £4 billion, year on year increase provided in the 2022/23 financial year. This is an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in just two years.
Funding for both mainstream schools and high needs will total £58.8 billion in 2024/25. This is the highest ever level per pupil, in real terms as measured by the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Government provides these increases to school revenue budgets so that schools can cover cost increases in the year ahead.
Funding for mainstream schools and high needs for 2023/24 is allocated through the schools and high needs National Funding Formulae (NFFs), published in July 2022. This determines the amount of funding each Local Authority receives for the schools in their area, and final school allocations are then determined by each Local Authority’s own local funding formula.
All schools should have been notified of their funding allocations for 2023/24. Academies will receive their funding allocations on an academic year basis from the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and maintained schools receive their funding on a financial year basis from their Local Authorities.
In addition to funding through the NFF, in 2023/24 mainstream schools also receive funding through the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG). The Department has now published school level allocations of the MSAG funding, so that all eligible schools can see their additional funding through this grant. Pupil Premium allocations for the 2023/24 financial year have also been published.
The Department understands that one of the key concerns of schools regarding budget planning in the 2023/24 academic year is teachers’ pay.
Following unions’ rejection of the Government’s 4.5% offer in March, the independent School Teachers’ Review Body has submitted its recommendations to the Government on teacher pay for the 2023/24 academic year, as part of the normal process. The Department will be considering the recommendations and continues to work across government to ensure that announcements can be made as early as possible. This year, for example, to allow trusts more time to prepare their budgets, the Department has extended the deadline for the Budget Forecast Return that academies are required to provide, setting out their budget plans, to 31 August 2023.
It is recommended that schools consider the range of possible scenarios on the different cost factors, including on support staff pay and energy, that might materialise, and what the implications would be for their individual school.
Guidance to help schools complete forecasts can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academies-budget-forecast-return-guide-to-using-the-online-form/academies-budget-forecast-guidance-for-completing-the-online-form. The Department’s School Resource Management offer also includes advice to help with forecasting, including estates management advice, buying guides and how to join or create your own school professionals network.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham, Edgbaston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential impact of trends in the level of overcrowding in social housing in Birmingham on (a) primary and (b) secondary school children's education outcomes in that area.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has evaluated the national impact of poverty on educational outcomes. Evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation, Star Assessments and Renaissance Learning shows that disadvantaged pupils have fallen further behind non disadvantaged pupils compared with pre COVID-19 pandemic levels, at Key Stages 1, 2 and 4. This is indicated by a rise in the disadvantage gap index between 2019 and 2022 at KS2 and KS4. That is why the Department has increased its range of support for pupils, families, and schools.
In 2022/23, the Department will be allocating approximately £2,000 per pupil for all pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, which will be delivered through the National Funding Formula, the Pupil Premium, and the 2022/23 School Supplementary Grant together. The Pupil Premium, of which £107.5 million will be allocated to Birmingham schools in 2023/24, enables schools to provide extra support for disadvantaged pupils to help improve their academic and personal achievements. Of the 82,408 eligible pupils in Birmingham, £1,455 per pupil will go to each primary school, £1,035 per pupil to each secondary school, and schools will also receive £ 2,530 per looked after and previously looked after child.
Support also includes the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), where funding has been allocated to schools based on rates of disadvantage. Since the launch of the NTP in November 2020, around 2.85 million tutoring courses have been started, as at 6 October 2022. The six million courses the Department committed to creating in the Schools White Paper will be delivered by 2024. The Department has made available almost £5 billion for education recovery, including multi year direct investment, so that schools can deliver evidence based interventions, based on pupil’s needs. Collectively, these programmes are making a difference to pupils and schools. Recent data from the Education Policy Institute and Rising Stars/Hodder Education shows that for primary age pupils, most year groups have either caught up in English and mathematics or are now on average 4 to6 weeks behind pre COVID-19 pandemic levels, a significant increase from previous studies which suggested pupils were 2.5 to 3 months behind.
In addition, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities leads an interministerial group for Levelling Up to facilitate cross Government work on the Levelling Up agenda. This group includes Ministers from all Departments leading on missions, including an ambition to reduce the number of poor quality rented homes by one half and for 90% of pupils to achieve the expected level at Key Stage 2. The group provides an opportunity for support, challenge, and accountability on the progression of these missions.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to prevent hunger among children whose families are subject to the two-child benefit cap during the school summer holidays.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is providing over £200 million of funding per year for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which provides food and activities for disadvantaged children in England for four weeks during summer, and one week each at Christmas and Easter. The programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities and free childcare places to children from low income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and education. Over summer 2022, the HAF programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including 475,000 children eligible for free school meals across England. As in previous years, Local Authorities have discretion to use up to 15% of their funding to provide free or subsidised holiday club places for children who are not in receipt of benefits related free school meals but who the Local Authority believe could benefit from the HAF programme, such as other vulnerable children. This could include, where appropriate, providing places at HAF clubs that support working families.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including the Barnett formula impact, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is in addition to funding already provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which Local Authorities will use to help households with the cost of essentials.
Overall, the Government is providing total support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children on free school meals receive free meals during the summer holidays.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Free school meals (FSM) are an educational entitlement intended to support children while they are being taught. Pupils do not receive FSM when they are not receiving education, including during school holidays.
The latest published statistics show that over 2 million pupils are claiming FSM. This equates to 23.8% of all pupils, up from 22.5% in 2022. Together with almost 1.3 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal (UIFSM) policy, over one third of pupils receive a free meal in school. This is an increase from the one in six that received a free meal in 2010. Overall, two million more pupils now receive a free meal at school, compared to 2010. This is due to the introduction of UIFSM and generous transitional protections.
The Department is providing over £200 million per year in the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. HAF supplies food and activities for disadvantaged children in England for four weeks over summer and one week at Christmas and Easter each. The programme provides heathy meals, enriching activities, and free childcare places to children from low income families, benefiting their health, wellbeing and readiness to be taught.
For those who require extra support, the Government is providing an additional £1 billion of funding, including Barnett formula, to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund in England in the next financial year. This is on top of what the Government has provided since October 2021, bringing total funding to £2.5 billion. In England, this will be delivered through an extension to the Household Support Fund, backed by £842 million, running from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, which local authorities use to help households with the cost of essentials.
Overall, the Government is providing total support of over £94 billion over 2022/23 and 2023/24 to help households and individuals with the rising cost of living.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the increase in the price of baby formula.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
We have seen food price inflation continue to rise to 19.2% in March 2023, up from 18.2% in February 2023, the highest rate seen in 45 years.
We recognise the impact high food prices are having on household budgets and tackling inflation is this Government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year.
The Government is providing significant support over this year and next – worth on average £3,500 per household – which includes direct cash payments to the most vulnerable households, as well as uprating benefits and the state pension by 10% in April.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the £600 million apprenticeship levy returned to his Department due to the decrease of apprenticeship starts has been allocated to Birmingham City Council.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
The government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects the apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with a payroll of more than £3 million. From this, HM Treasury (HMT) sets an English apprenticeships budget for the Department for Education, and the devolved governments receive a share of the funding calculated using the Barnett formula. The department has seen some underspends in the apprenticeships budget in previous years, and these are set out in the department’s annual report and accounts. However, this was not the case in the 2021/22 financial year, when the total spend on apprenticeships in England was £2,455 million, against the budget of £2,466 million, meaning that 99.6% of the apprenticeships budget was spent.
Any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance. As employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, annual spend of the apprenticeship budget is subject to employer demand.
The apprenticeship system is employer-led, with apprenticeship funding available for both levy-paying employers and smaller employers who do not pay the levy. Apprenticeship funding is, therefore, not allocated to organisations, such as Birmingham City Council, sectors or regions, nor to particular groups of apprentices.
The government is increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year to support apprenticeships growth. The department has also created flexible training models, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, to make apprenticeships accessible. The BBC are one of our Flexi-Job Apprenticeship Agencies and have launched a training hub in Birmingham to support new apprenticeship starts in the creative sector in the West Midlands. We have also improved the transfer system to make it easier for levy paying employers to find other employers who wish to take on new apprentices with transferred funds.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Disability Cost of Living Payment.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living and has taken further, decisive action to support them providing total support of over £94bn over 2022-23 and 2023-24 to help households and individuals, including disabled people, with the rising cost of living.
The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs in addition to other cost of living support delivered last year, which includes:
For those who require additional support the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula.
The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows Local Authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for Local Authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The Devolved Administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
This month we uprated benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. The first payment is due to be paid to eligible households from tomorrow (25th May). A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.
Asked by: Janet Daby (Labour - Lewisham East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including sickle cell patients in the support package for households to deal with the increase in living costs.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
No one is excluded from the Government’s cost of living support as a consequence of a health condition or disability. Those with needs arising from such a condition may be entitled to the full range of support depending on their circumstances, including access to an extra costs disability benefit such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
The Government understands the pressures people, including disabled people, are facing with the cost of living, and has taken further, decisive action to support people with their energy bills. The Energy Price Guarantee is supporting millions of households with rising energy costs in addition to other cost of living support delivered last year, which includes:
For those who require additional support, the current Household Support Fund, running in England from 1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023, is providing £421 million of funding. The devolved administrations have been allocated £79 million through the Barnett formula.
The Household Support Fund will continue until March 2024. This year long extension allows local authorities in England to continue to provide discretionary support to those most in need with the significantly rising cost of living. The guidance for local authorities for this next iteration has now been published and can be found here: 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024: Household Support Fund guidance for county councils and unitary authorities in England - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The devolved administrations will receive consequential funding as usual to spend at their discretion.
In April, we are uprating benefit rates and State Pensions by 10.1%. In order to increase the number of households who can benefit from these uprating decisions, the benefit cap levels are also increasing by the same amount.
In addition, for 2023/24, households on eligible means-tested benefits will get up to £900 in Cost of Living Payments. This will be split into three payments of around £300 each across the 2023/24 financial year. A separate £300 payment will be made to pensioner households on top of their Winter Fuel Payments and individuals in receipt of eligible disability benefits, including PIP, will receive a £150 payment. Further to this, the Energy Price Guarantee will be extended from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, meaning a typical household bill will be around £3,000 per year in Great Britain.