Written statement on Department for Education Agencies

Justine Greening (Secretary of State for Education): Today I am announcing the creation of a single funding agency for education and skills (excluding higher education), bringing together the Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency. The new single funding agency will sit within the Department for Education and be operational from April 2017.

The creation of a new single agency – to be called the Education and Skills Funding Agency - will complete the process started in November 2014 when we appointed a single Chief Executive for both agencies. Since then significant progress has been made in bringing the two agencies together through shared services and close working arrangements.

Creating the ESFA will bring benefits to the individuals and organisations we support as well as to the taxpayer. It will enable a single, joined-up approach to funding and regulation to improve accountability.

We will be working closely with our staff, unions, stakeholders and the education sector to finalise and deliver our plans for the new agency.