The Autumn Statement – what’s in it for Education?
24th November, 2016
The Autumn Statement is always of importance to the education system – this year particularly for schools and academies in the North of England.
We now have a Government Northern Powerhouse Strategy – confirming that there is continuing recognition within Government that rebalancing of the economy must continue.
We also have the report commissioned from Sir Nick Weller in which he reports on his findings about the state of the school system in the North.
Turning to the statement itself, what commitments have been made for the benefit of education and what do Multi-academy Trusts, Academy Trusts and schools need to be aware of?
The positives first
Relatively little was actually said about education, but the following announcements impact on the sector:
Nursery Schools and the Free Childcare Scheme
For nursery school providers there was confirmation that the new 30 hours free childcare commitment will be implemented. The legislation is already in place and details of the scheme are being consulted on.
Grammar Schools
The recently announced proposal to extend Grammar School provision has led to a need to allocate financial provision for investment with £200 million of funding earmarked initially to support expansion of existing grammar schools but with support also to be available for further grammar schools, assuming the current consultation exercise leads to that outcome.
Gift Aid
Rules governing the administration of Gift Aid are to be revised in a manner that will be helpful to MATs and all schools that have charitable status or associated charitable bodies.
There will be relaxations in the rules that govern the Gift Aid Small Donations Scheme.
Investment in Broadband
Of particular interest to rural schools will be the funds to be invested into the National Productivity Investment Fund that will be allocated towards a £1bn investment in broadband.
This can only be a positive for our education system with the expectation being even greater opportunity to manage education delivery digitally.
Funding for Skills Training
Budgets for Local Enterprise Partnerships to carry on efforts to support the narrowing of the skills gap will continue with a refreshed budget of £1.8 billion available nationally (£556 million for northern LEPs).
The not so good news…
Insurance Premium Tax
The 2% increase in insurance premium tax will encourage MATs and Academy Trusts to review their risk management arrangements where the organisation is not yet participating in the DfE risk protection arrangements.
Salary sacrifice
As with any other employer where staff have the option to sacrifice cash salary for benefits, the reform of taxation in this area will need to be understood and payroll arrangements revised. Interestingly, amongst the few types of benefits that will survive the reforms at least for now are childcare (to continue indefinitely) and school fees (until 2021).
What will not happen (at least for now)
How will our education system benefit from the proposed Soft Drinks Industry Tax –”the Sugar Tax”?
There has been speculation that some detail would be forthcoming about how this new levy on drinks manufacturers will be applied. At policy level the Government intends to ensure that funds raised are applied to provide school-aged children with a brighter and healthier future, including programmes to encourage physical activity and balanced diets.
The levy will not be implemented until 2018 – clearly the Government is not yet ready to announce the workings of the scheme.
Tackling the “Just About Managing” challenge
There was also speculation that with the “just about managing” agenda set by Prime Minister Theresa May, the free childcare scheme might be extended but this has not been proposed.
The rule within the scheme requiring both parents to be in work will continue to be a requirement of the scheme.
More funding to address capacity issues in the school system
Projections suggest that the need for more school places continues to require urgent attention.
The recent Green Paper (“Schools that work for everyone”) sets out to achieve quality school places for all.
With demand for primary school places likely to increase by 3.8% between 2016 and 2025 and secondary place demand increasing by a huge 20% in the same period, a strategy will become an increasingly vital expectation of Government.
Proposals to tackle this challenge can now be expected to follow as part of announcements following the end of the Green Paper consultation period.
The Northern Powerhouse Strategy is alive and well…
In spite of doubts following the July Government changes, the commitment to rebalancing the economy of the North continues. Complementing the Autumn Statement is the publication of a Northern Powerhouse Strategy and also the Report by Sir Nick Weller who was tasked to review the state of education in the North (please see below).
For schools and academies in the North, the existence of a Northern Powerhouse strategy (combined with recognition that good quality outcomes from our education system are essential to the economic rebalancing exercise) must be viewed as a positive.
The strategy announced alongside the Autumn Statement has the objective of validating a series of initiatives planned or already embarked upon to transform the northern economy. There are essentially four key workstreams covering connectivity, skills, enterprise and innovation and trade and investment.
A £70 million Northern Powerhouse fund to support educational improvement in the North is already operating – with funds being made available, for example, to enable high performing academies to support school improvement activities.
The strategy responds positively to Sir Nick Weller’s recommendations on investment in initiatives to attract and retain high quality teachers. There is also recognition that further investment to develop strong Multi-academy Trusts and sponsors in the North is of critical importance.
The process of delivering against this strategy will start in the spring of 2017.
Early years outcomes are recognised as being particularly important and options will be explored to achieve improved results from investment in early years education.
The Northern Powerhouse Strategy is available by clicking here.
The Weller Northern Powerhouse Education Review is published
Sir Nick Weller is Chief Executive Officer of Dixons Academies Trust.
Appointed by the then Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan earlier this year, Sir Nick has spent the last eight months carrying out an in-depth independent review of the state of education in the North.
The report brings a fresh view to the issue of underperformance that manifests itself across the North of England. A series of recommendations are made in the report, the highlights being:
The need to drive up recruitment of high quality teachers and leaders in the North;
A refresh for existing initiatives and the creation of new leadership initiatives with a focus on the North;
Recommendations to ensure MATs are working at their most effective level with strong governance and with those participating in the MAT benefitting from funded training and development programmes;
The need for recognition on the part of Local Authorities that Academies are here to stay and that strong working relationships are vital to the future of the system;
Greater emphasis upon mentoring of school leaders;
The need to better understand shortcomings that exist in early years education and the outcomes achieved;
More attention should be paid to effective literacy teaching with the highly regarded North East Literacy Campaign scaled up and taken into other priority areas;
The need to revisit the curriculum and available qualifications to open up more realistic opportunities for students;
DfE should ensure that SEN provision is more fairly funded through funding reform;
A need to treat the admissions code as a tool to encourage diversity and to dilute the impact on individual schools of mono-cultural disadvantage applying, for example, randomised selection systems; and
The importance of DfE and Ofqual recognising and addressing school concerns over the state of the examination system.
The report is available by clicking here.
The report and its recommendations can be expected to be taken seriously by Government, making the next 12 months a period of great potential opportunity for the education system in the North.
In conclusion
Whilst at a national level, education commentators are likely to be sanguine about the educational outcomes from the Autumn Statement, the North of England has been provided with much more to discuss and, more importantly, to prepare for as the process of engagement starts, particularly around the Weller report.
* For more information on the issues discussed in this article, please contact Frank Suttie.
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