The Chancellor has made it his mission to tackle Britain’s productivity gap and in his Budget he put education and skills at the heart of this ambition, announcing further funding for free schools and schools maintenance, and introducing new T-Levels in order to boost the status of technical qualifications. A Schools White Paper is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

Overview

Chancellor Philip Hammond has made it his mission to tackle Britain’s productivity gap and in his first – and last – Spring Budget, he put education and skills at the heart of this ambition. The focus on education did not, however, come as a surprise with a number of his announcements covered extensively by the media in the run-up to his speech.

Headline announcements for schools include an additional £320 million to extend the free schools programme, enabling the creation of an additional 140 new free schools on top of the current commitment of 500, many of which will be selective and of which 30 will open by September 2020.  Further reflecting the May Government’s focus on bright children from poorer backgrounds, Hammond outlined plans to extend existing rights for these children to include free transport to selective schools.

However, despite pledges on additional schools funding – including a further £216 million investment in school maintenance – Hammond’s Budget comes at a time of unrest amongst teachers and unions about existing budget pressures. Revisions to the national schools funding formula are set to see some areas of the country lose out to others. Combined with new grammar schools legislation, Education Secretary Justine Greening is set to have her work cut out in the coming months.  The Schools White Paper – expected to be published imminently – will provide further detail on the Government’s direction of travel.

Beyond schools, the Chancellor stressed the increasing importance of the role of technical education in supporting the economy and formally announced the introduction of T-Levels to streamline existing qualifications. This comes just weeks ahead of the introduction of the new Apprenticeship Levy and further solidifies the Government’s commitment to ensuring technical and vocational qualifications are held in similar regard to academic ones.

While many fear that the Government will have increasingly little time for domestic policy once Article 50 is triggered, it is increasingly clear that improvements to the education and skills landscape are central to the Government’s vision for a post-Brexit Britain.

Policy announcements - The school system

Free schools

Reflecting Prime Minister Theresa May’s pledge to “increase the capacity and diversity of the school system”, Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that the Government will extend the free school programme, providing £320 million to fund an additional 140 new free schools. These will include selective, faith, independent-led, university-led and specialist maths schools, with maths schools receiving particular attention in the Chancellor’s speech. Of these new schools, 30 will be expected to be open by September 2020. Following existing procedure, the Government will decide the location of the new free schools by assessing local factors.

To ensure that children are able to attend the new schools – some of which are expected to be selective – the Chancellor also announced that the Government will provide free transport to selective schools for children that are in receipt of free school meals or whose parents are entitled to Maximum Working Tax Credit.

The Chancellor added that further information on the different options available for schools, including guidance on selection or on working with universities, will be revealed in the Schools White Paper, which will be published shortly.

School infrastructure

The Chancellor announced a further £216 million of funding, which is to be distributed over the next three years and will be invested in rebuilding or refurbishing existing schools.

School sports

While the Chancellor admitted that revenue raised from the soft drinks levy was less than predicted, he confirmed that the Department for Education will nonetheless provide £1 billion of funding for school sports.

Policy announcements - Further education  

Reflecting the recommendations made by Lord Sainsbury’s Independent Review on Technical Education, the Government will reduce the number of technical qualifications to from 13,000 to 15 by introducing the new T-Level. In addition, Government will increase the number of hours of training for 16 to 19 year olds taking technical qualifications by 50% to 900 hours a year on average and introduce a three-month high-quality industry work placement to each programme. These will be introduced from 2019-20, with £500 million a year pledged to support the implementation of these new routes.

From 2019-20, students who want to take new higher-level technical qualifications will become eligible for maintenance loans. This will apply to students on technical education courses at levels four to six in National Colleges and Institutes of Technology, as well as adults who wish to retrain.

Policy announcements - University education

The Chancellor confirmed that the Government will be implementing the previously announced policies of maintenance loans for part-time undergraduates, which will become available in 2018-19, and loans of up to £25,000 for doctoral study.

Policy announcements -Lifelong learning

Reflecting the Chancellor’s concern with up-skilling the workforce and increasing productivity, the Budget revealed that the Government will spend £40 million on testing the effectiveness of different approaches to lifelong learning by 2018-19.

The Chancellor also announced that the Government will provide £5 billion of funding in order to increase the number of “returnships”, which support people who wish to come back into the workplace after a long career break.