PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Schools: Finance (6 October 2017)

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance and support local authorities will receive from the Government to help them develop their local formulas to ensure that every school receives the minimum funding guarantee.

Asked by:
Mike Kane (Labour)

Departmental officials are attending local authority regional meetings across England this term. This is to help local authorities understand the funding allocations and the minimum funding guarantee.

Detailed guidance for local authorities on the funding system implementation is set out in an operational guide, first published on 4 August 2017 and updated on 27 September. This is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for-2018-to-2019.

This guide covers changes for 2018/19, including the introduction of a more flexible minimum funding guarantee of 0% to minus 1.5%. A modelling tool to support the development of their local formula has been provided to local authorities.

Local authorities have been provided with detailed breakdowns of their schools’ block allocations. The allocations will be updated later this year, as in previous years. They will take account of the pupil numbers, which are included in the schools’ census count currently underway.

Answered by:
Nick Gibb (Conservative)
11 October 2017