Julia Garvey, Acting Director General at the British Educational Suppliers Association, responds to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget statement.
“Today, the Chancellor has set out a program of key spending commitments which provide schools with the urgent funding that is needed to fix their foundations, ensuring that teachers and students can work in safe, well-equipped environments.
“BESA welcomes the commitment to increase capital investment by £6.7bn next year. As BESA identified in our State of the Estate report, teachers and pupils are being forced to deliver lessons in facilities which are either inadequate or require major improvements. Today’s commitment provides schools and suppliers with a significant 19% real terms increase to address the immediate issues facing the school estate.
“The problems within school capital investment are systemic and go beyond a lack of funding. It is essential that this major investment is delivered with a root and branch change on the way in which capital investment is chosen by the DfE. It is unacceptable to continue prioritising cost over quality, rather than as investments which will benefit generations of teachers and pupils.
“We also welcome increases in funding to the core schools budget of 2.3bn, which includes an additional £1bn to go towards supporting the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities System. We have reported consistently through our Barometer and Fiscal Landscape in English Schools research that schools are in an acute financial situation with minimal additional support provided from central government.
“Our research has shown that schools have spent around £2bn more than they have received over the past two years, with many schools facing the prospect of a negative surplus this year. We hope this significant funding commitment will avoid the cliff edge that schools were approaching.
“BESA welcomes the commitments made in this budget towards the education system. However, after years of substantial underinvestment, these measures merely return us to the baseline we should have already achieved. BESA urges further investment to elevate our schools to be the best place in the world to learn.”
About BESA
BESA, the British Educational Suppliers Association, is the only trade association covering the entirety of the UK educational suppliers sector. BESA operates on a not-for-profit basis and is accountable to an Executive Council elected by member companies. It has a 91-year heritage serving the UK education sector, and represents more than 350 educational suppliers in the UK, including manufacturers and distributors of equipment, technology, ICT hardware, digital-content related services, materials, books, furniture and consumables to the education market.
