PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Schools: Finance (30 August 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average funding per pupil was in mainstream schools in (a) Knowsley constituency, (b) Merseyside, (c) the North West and (d) England in each of the last ten years.

Asked by:
Anneliese Midgley (Labour)

The tables below set out funding statistics for Knowsley constituency, Knowsley local authority, the North West and England in the last five years. Knowsley local authority is included instead of Merseyside, since Merseyside is not a local authority.

The department cannot provide comparable funding data for each of the last 10 years due to the changes in the funding system since that time. The scope of the per pupil funding before and after 2018/19 are not directly comparable. In particular, funding for the central services provided by local authorities was split out from the schools block funding in 2018/19, and instead funded separately through the central school services block from that year onwards.

For Knowsley local authority, the North West and England, the figures represent the funding provided through the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). All of the figures in table one exclude growth funding but include premises.

The DSG is allocated at local authority level, and as such the equivalent figures are not available for Knowsley constituency. The constituency level data for Knowsley is therefore calculated based on the notional schools national funding formula (NFF) allocations for all mainstream schools in the constituency. The figures in table two are not comparable to those in table one, not only because DSG funding cannot be aggregated down to constituency level, but also because the context of the funding figures is not the same.

The tables below provide average per pupil funding from 2020/21 to 2024/25.

Table one

Year	DSG Schools Block per pupil funding *
	Knowsley local authority	North West	England
​2020/21	£5,382	£4,838	£5,055
​2021/22	£5,752	£5,221	£5,212
​2022/23	£6,082	£5,524	£5,534
​2023/24	£6,465	£5,835	£5,838
2024/25	£6,651	£5,962	£5,957

* Additional grants, such as the School Supplementary grant (SSG) and the Mainstream Schools Additional grant (MSAG) are included in these figures once they have been incorporated into the DSG.

Table two

NFF Schools Block per pupil funding **
Year	Knowsley constituency
​2020/21	£5,619
​2021/22	£5,760
​2022/23	£5,932
​2023/24	£6,272
2024/25	£6,867

** The allocations that schools within a constituency actually receive are determined by the local funding formula in their area. Additional grants, such as the School Supplementary grant (SSG) and the Mainstream Schools Additional grant (MSAG) are included in these figures once they have been incorporated into the DSG.

Answered by:
Catherine McKinnell (Labour)
4 September 2024