Queen's Speech December 2019 - Education

Education

“To ensure every child has access to a high-quality education my ministers will increase levels of funding per pupil in every school.”

• ●  A great education is fundamental to the success of children, their families and our communities, as well as the success of our country.

• ●  The Government is giving schools a multi-billion pound boost, investing a total of £14 billion more over three years, on top of £4.5 billion for teacher’s pensions. Overall, that translates to £150 million a week. The core schools budget will be £7.1 billion higher in 2022-23 compared to this year.

• ●  Every school will have more money for every child and we will level up minimum per-pupil funding for secondary schools to £5,000, and primary schools to £3,750 next year, and £4,000 the year after.

• ●  From next year, we will legally require all local authorities to deliver the minimum per-pupil funding in their local area. And that will be an important first step towards delivering this funding directly to schools, through a single national formula, so that it is fair and equitable for every school in the country.

• ●  It is vital we ensure that the pay offer for teachers is positioned at the top of the graduate labour market – ensuring we recruit and retain a world class profession – and that is why we have announced plans to significantly raise starting pay to £30,000 nationally by September 2022.

• ●  The Government will also continue to expand the successful free schools programme, promoting choice, innovation and higher standards to kick-start wider improvement.

• ●  The Government wants to bring renewed focus to further and technical education, and will ensure our post-16 education system enables young people and adults to gain the skills required for success and to help the economy.

• ●  This means an extra £400 million for 16-19 year-old education next year, an increase of 7 per cent overall in 16-19 year-old funding and the biggest injection of new money in a single year since 2010.

• ●  There will also be additional investment in T Levels, supporting continued preparation for these courses with the first three starting from September 2020.

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• ●  This means that funding is increasing even faster for 16-19 year-old schooling than for 5-16 year-old schooling.

• ●  The Government will invest an additional £3 billion over the course of this Parliament to support the creation of a ‘National Skills Fund’.

• ●  The Government will invest £1.8 billion over five years in a rebuilding programme to upgrade the entire further education college estate.

• ●  The Government are also planning to establish 20 Institutes of Technology across England- unique collaborations between further education colleges, universities, and employers –– offering higher technical education and training in science, technology, engineering and maths subjects, to give people the skills they need for key sectors such as digital, construction, advanced manufacturing and engineering.

• ●  The Government is committed to making sure higher education funding reflects a sustainable model that supports high quality provision, maintaining our world-leading reputation for higher education and delivering value for money for both students and the taxpayer.

• ●  The Government will ensure that our universities are places where free speech can thrive, and will strengthen academic freedoms.

• ●  The Government wants to ensure we deliver better value for students in post- 18 education, have more options that offer the right education for each individual, and remove barriers to access for disadvantaged young people.

• ●  The Government is considering the thoughtful recommendations made in the Augar Review carefully.

• ●  The Government will boost Ofsted inspection so that parents can be confident they have the fullest picture of quality at their child’s school. We will consult on lifting the inspection exemption so that outstanding schools are inspected routinely.

• ●  To ensure children are getting an active start to life, The Government will invest in primary school PE teaching and ensure that it is being properly delivered. The Government wants to do more to help schools make good use of their sports facilities and to promote physical literacy and competitive sport.

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Key Facts

• ●  This year the core schools budget is £43.5 billion. Additional funding will allow for a cash increase of £2.6 billion next year, £4.8 billion in 2021-22, and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to this year. This is in addition to the £1.5 billion per year we will continue to provide to fund additional pension costs for teachers over the next three years. By 2022-23 the core schools budget will rise to £52.2 billion.

• ●  The schools NFF allocates core funding for mainstream schools and will provide primary schools at least £3,750 per pupil next year, and secondary schools at least £5,000 per pupil. Special schools, pupil referral units, and alternative provision academies are funded separately through the high needs formula, at a rate of £10,000 per place. Local authorities can also provide top- up funding in respect of individual pupils in these settings.

• ●  In 2020-21 alone, school funding will increase by 5 per cent overall compared to in 2019-20 – with the lowest-funded schools seeing higher gains.

• ●  As part of this investment, we are providing £780 million of additional funding for complex special educational needs specifically next year – that is a 12 per cent increase.

• ●  Secondary free schools are amongst some of the highest performing state- funded schools in the country. In 2018, seven of the top 15 provisional Progress 8 scores for state-funded schools in England were achieved by free schools, including three in the top five.

• ●  Record proportion of 16 and 17 year-olds are participating in education or apprenticeships, the highest since consistent records began.

• ●  In 2019, the proportion of English 18-year olds entering higher education increased to a record entry rate of 35.0 per cent.

• ●  The proportion of English 18 year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds entering HE increased from 11.3 per cent in 2006 to 21.6 per cent in 2019. (Full time undergraduate study).

• ●  In 2019, £38 million was made available to help the first T level providers to build new classrooms, refurbish buildings and upgrade their equipment in readiness to deliver the new qualifications from September 2020.