Meetings were held with the Funding Team at the Department for Education on:
Briefings were staged for MPs at the House of Commons on:
- 15 October 2018 (click to view presentation)
- 3 February 2015
- 14 July 2015
- 20 February 2017
- 10 July 2017
- Notes of f40’s meeting with the DfE on Tuesday 9 April 2019.
- Letter to Chancellor of The Exchequer Philip Hammond MP – 16 November 2018
- Notes of meeting with the Secretary of State – 25 June 2018
- Secretary of State’s response to f40 letter – 07 February 2018
- F40 Introductory letter to Damian Hinds MP – 10 January 2018
- Secretary of State’s response to f40 letter – 13 October 2017
- Chairs letter to Secretary of State for Education – 21 August 2017
- Letter from Chair to Lead Members in all f40 authorities – 31 July 2017
- Letter from Chair to all MPs representing f40 authority areas – 31 July 2017
- Letter from f40 to Secretary of State about High Needs Spending Pressure – 22 September 2016
- Letter from f40 to Secretary of State requesting uplift in funding in 2017-18 for poorest authorities in the light of the delay to implementing fair funding – 10 August 2016
- Response from Secretary of State – 26 July 2016
- Letter from f40 welcoming the appointment of new Secretary of State – 15 July 2015
- Letter dated 2 November 2015 from f40 Chair Ivan Ould to Education Secretary Nicky Margan.
- Letter dated 20 October 2015 to the Prime Minister signed by 111 Members of Parliament
- Response dated 28 October 2015 from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan to Neil Carmichael MP
- Letter dated 16 September 2015 from Neil Carmichael MP, Chair of the Education Select Committe to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan
- Meeting with Sam Gyimah MP, Minister for Education & Childcare – 18 June 2015
- Letter from Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education – 3 June 2015
- Meeting with Nick Gibb MP, Education Minister – 4 March 2015
- Letter from Nicky Morgan MP, Secretary of State for Education – 29 August 2014.
- Secretary of State’s response to f40’s letter of 27 January 2014
- f40 letter re Deprivation and NFF consultation to Secretary of State 27 January 2014
- Meeting with the Shadow Secretary of State (21 January 2014)
On Monday 26 March 2018, f40 held a conference in Westminster on the National Funding Formula (NFF), its implications for f40 members and how f40’s fair funding campaign should develop in the future.
The keynote speaker was Tony Foot, Director of the DfE’s Education Funding Group.
Besides hearing about the current government thinking on the National Funding Formula, there were sessions on the implications of NFF from a local authority and Schools Forum perspective, plus presentations on High Needs and Early Years. We also heard about three other campaigns fighting for fairer funding for schools.
The afternoon session was given over to consideration of what member authorities said in the recent Survey conducted by f40…and a general discussion about how f40’s campaign should be re-focused now that the NFF is being implemented.
Chairman’s introduction
Cllr Ivan Ould, Chair of f40 – a warm welcome to over 100 delegates who are obviously very interested and concerned about the NFF and where the f40 campaign goes in the future.
Section 1 – The National Funding Formula
- The National Funding Formula – Tony Foot, Director of the Education Funding Group at the Department for Education – presentation here.
- The LA Perspective – Cllr Gordon Jones, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Education & Skills, Suffolk County Council – presentation here.
- The Schools Forum Perspective – Gillian Hayward, Chair of Gloucestershire Schools Forum – presentation here.
- Need, demand or expectations – What is fuelling High Needs Block Pressures? – Les Knight, Head of Additional Needs, Children’s Well-being Directorate, Herefordshire Council – presentation here.
- Early Years Funding – the Leicestershire Perspective – Jenny Lawrence, Finance Business Partner – Children and Young People’s Service, Leicestershire County Council – presentation here
Section 2: Views on school funding from other campaigning organisations
- Key issues for implementing the new NFF – Julia Harnden, Funding Specialist, ASCL – presentation here.
- WorthLess? – it’s not just about the money – Jules White, Head, Tanbridge House School, West Sussex – presentation here.
- School funding: the parents’ perspective – Flora Page, Fair Funding for All Schools campaign – Flora did not use slides but gave a passionate plea for solidarity and collaboration from all interested organisations to achieve better funding for education. She said the country’s future depends on high quality education for all and any government that ignores this fact does so at its peril.
Section 3: The Future of f40’s Fair Funding Campaign
- The f40 Members’ Survey – Margaret Judd, f40 Executive Committee and Sufficiency & Funding Team Manager, Dorset County Council – presentation here.
- Notes of the conference including a discussion – Re-focusing the fair funding campaign – led by Cllr Ivan Ould and Margaret Judd – notes available here.
f40 warmly welcomed the announcement in the 2015 Autumn Spending Review that a new national funding formula is to be introduced by 2017. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, included a commitment to a new formula as part of his statement, confirming that the government intends to phase out the existing arbitrary and unfair system in favour of a new national funding formula.
The consultation – 1st stage
The 1st Stage consultation was launched in March 2016. Below are links to the Secretary of State’s announcement in Parliament and the consultation documents. The closing date was 7 April 2016.
- Secretary of State’s Parliamentary announcement
- Schools National Funding formula
- High needs funding reform consultation
You can read f40’s initial reaction to the announcement on our news page.
Read f40’s responses to the consultation here.
On 21st July 2016, the government announced that the 2nd Stage consultation will be delayed until the autumn 2016. Click here to read the Secretary of State’s announcement.
On 29 November 2016, a delegation from f40 met with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss the forthcoming consultation and to raise concerns about a range of school funding issues. Read the notes of the meeting.
The consultation – 2nd stage
The Government launched its 2nd stage consultation on 14th December 2016. It will last fourteen weeks concluding on 22nd March 2017. Full details and relevant documents can be located on the Department for Education website.
Click here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula2/
By coincidence, f40 representatives were attending a meeting with Nick Gibb MP, the Minister for School Standards, as the announcement was being made on this page. The notes of that meeting are available here.
On Monday 20 February 2017, f40 held a Briefing in the House of Commons for MPs representing poorly funded areas. Over 60 MPs attended. The following documents are relevant:
- Briefing Paper for MPs
- PowerPoint presentation used at the event
- News Release issued the day after the event
- Note of meeting (to follow)
f40 wrote to the Prime Minister on 10 March 2017 to draw her attention to the concerns that the group’s membership have about the proposals presented in the NFF consultation and their failure to address fair funding in the way that had been anticipated. Read the letter here.
- f40’s response to the NFF consultation is here.
- f40’s response to the High Needs consultation is here.
The House of Commons Library has published this interesting Briefing Paper – School funding in England: Current system and proposals for ‘fairer school funding’.
