Daniel Zeichner – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Daniel Zeichner on 2016-02-03.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the financial viability of education providers offering PGCE qualifications.

Nick Gibb

For all new School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) providers there is a rigorous accreditation process which includes a financial and governance review of the lead school encompassing financial accounts and forecasts and governance arrangements. If successful, the new SCITT is awarded accreditation by the Secretary of State. In Academic Year 2015/16 there were 41 new SCITT providers who commenced operations.

As part of the December annual school return process all Local Authority SCITT providers are required to produce an audited income/expenditure statement and balance sheet.

For Academy based SCITT providers, the Education Funding Agency obtain financial health information from the audited academy trust, financial statements by 31 December and their budget returns by 31 July each year. The financial statements include independent audit opinions and regularity reports, which provide assurance that the trust has used funds appropriately and report any instances of financial concerns. The financial information is assessed and where appropriate instances of trusts at potential risk are asked to prepare and submit a recovery plan.

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) receiving PGCE bursary funding are regulated through HEFCE and therefore the responsibility of the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills. There is a Memorandum of Understanding in place with HEFCE so that if there any financial viability issues with HEIs, these are notified and considered by the National College for Teaching and Leadership.