£20bn NHS funding boost poses ‘severe challenges’ for schools, expert says

'It clearly poses quite severe challenges for high-spending departments like education'

Eleanor Busby
Education Correspondent
Tuesday 19 June 2018 18:31 BST
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Luke Sibieta, from the IFS tells MPs there will be 'pressures' in light of the government’s NHS funding boost
Luke Sibieta, from the IFS tells MPs there will be 'pressures' in light of the government’s NHS funding boost

The government’s decision to hand the NHS an extra £20 billion will put pressure on schools, a funding expert has told MPs.

Luke Sibieta, research fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said Theresa May’s policy announcement “poses quite severe challenges” for the Department for Education.

Speaking to the education select committee, Mr Sibieta said there would be “pressures” in light of the government’s promised NHS funding boost.

His warning came after The Times reported the chancellor, Philip Hammond, has allegedly ruled out any extra spending on schools - as well as defence, prisons and police.

When asked by the committee chair, Robert Halfon, how education could be affected by the announcement, Mr Sibieta said there could be tax rises, borrowing, or “spending cuts elsewhere.”

“It clearly poses quite severe challenges for high-spending departments like education," the funding expert told MPs. "The pressures are obvious.”

School budgets will have declined in real terms by 4.6 per cent between 2015 and 2019 – despite the announcement of £1.3bn extra funding last summer, the IFS previously said.

Mr Sibieta said the spending review should take into account the extra costs taken on by schools and pressures on budgets – including teacher pay rises and rising pupil numbers.

Experts on the panel agreed schools are being asked to do more without extra money.

Angela Donkin, chief social scientist at the National Foundation for Educational Research, said schools are now expected to provide mental health services and look out for signs of radicalisation.

Speaking to MPs on the committee, Mr Sibieta said the government should accept its £3bn of "efficiency savings" which schools have been asked to make amount to "cuts”.

“You should call it what it is – it is cutting spending. And it is very hard to work out what the impact of cutting spending will be on pupil outcomes later on down the line,” he said.

The education secretary, Damian Hinds, previously admitted cost pressures have made it “challenging” for headteachers to manage their school budgets in a time when more is demanded of them.

It came after the minister was forced into a U-turn this year after he wrongly claimed school spending was going up.

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