Chris Skidmore – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Chris Skidmore on 2015-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the per pupil funding for (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils in Kingswood constituency was in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2015.

Mr David Laws

Funding from the Department for Education is not allocated at a parliamentary constituency level. Figures for South Gloucestershire local authority, within which Kingswood lies, are given below.

The average per-pupil revenue funding for South Gloucestershire in financial year 2010-11 was £4,490.

This figure is calculated as the sum of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations plus other school related grants for pupils aged 3-15, namely, the school standards grant, the school standards grant (personalisation) and the standards fund (rounded to the nearest £10). Most of the additional grants were mainstreamed into DSG in 2011-12.

The changes to DSG funding in financial year 2013-14, with funding allocated through three blocks; ‘schools’, ‘early years’ and ‘high needs’, mean that there is no longer a comparable overall figure with previous years. The DSG schools block unit funding figure for South Gloucestershire local authority for financial year 2014-15 was £3,969 per pupil. This has risen to £4,189 for financial year 2015-16 as the authority was one of the beneficiaries of the extra funding provided under minimum funding levels for the least fairly funded local authorities.

Since 2011-12, schools have received the pupil premium which targets funding at pupils from the most deprived backgrounds to help them achieve their full potential. In 2011-12 the pupil premium was allocated for each pupil known to be: (a) eligible for free school meals (FSM); (b) a looked after child; or (c) a child of parents in the armed services. In 2012-13 coverage was expanded to include pupils known to have been eligible for FSM at any point in the last six years. The per-pupil amounts for each type of pupil are shown in following table in cash terms:

*Also includes children adopted from care

Schools and academies in South Gloucestershire local authority have been allocated £7.652 million through the pupil premium for financial year 2014-15.

Schools and academies in Kingswood constituency have been allocated £2.782 million through the pupil premium for financial year 2014-15.

Allocations for financial year 2015-16 are not yet available.

These include funding through the deprivation, service child and the children adopted from care elements, but exclude the looked after children element for Kingswood as this is not available at a parliamentary constituency level.