1. The Department for Education now tops my departments of concern. The continuing financial strain in schools, lack of grip over academies and failure to improve children's social care combine to present a worrying situation.
2. Last year, in summarising the financial strain on schools, I highlighted that cash shortages had led to many schools reviewing their options, with some considering reducing school hours to save money.2 We asked the Department and, in turn, Ofsted about the impact of funding pressures on the quality of education, but Ofsted has been unable, or unwilling, to tell us.3 The Education Committee's recent inquiry into school and college funding only confirmed our concerns: teachers' unions and professional bodies described the funding situation, including capital funding cuts, as a crisis, with schools making cuts and using up their reserves.4
3. Academy trusts are now responsible for educating nearly half of all children in state- funded schools in England.5 We found that the Department's oversight of academies needs to improve. There has been a succession of high-profile academy failures that have damaged children's education and been costly for the taxpayer.6
4. The Department is also responsible for children's social care, which supports some of the most vulnerable children and young people in our communities. It is in a poor state. Despite some improvements, 58% of local authorities are assessed as below Good by Ofsted, which the Department acknowledged as "terrible".7
5. Children's social care is increasingly becoming financially unsustainable with the proportion of local authorities that overspend on children's social care increasing from 63% in 2010-11 to 91% in 2017-18.8 The Department is still failing to do enough to ensure the sustainability of the quality, or finances, of children's social services.9 Some local authorities have been raiding their reserves and taking funding away from other services, options which the Department knows have only a limited shelf life.10 Unless the Department develops its understanding of the demand pressures on the service it will struggle to make a compelling case for adequate resources.11
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2 Committee of Public Accounts, Third Annual Report of the Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts, Second Special Report of Session 2017-19, HC 1399, 5 July 2018 , para 3, p 7
3 Committee of Public Accounts, Academy accounts and performance, Seventy-Third Report of Session 2017-19, HC 1597, 23 January 2019, conclusion 6, p 7
4 Education Committee, Oral evidence: Schools and College Funding, HC 969, 6 November 2018, Qq 158, 159, 161
5 Committee of Public Accounts, Academy accounts and performance, Seventy-Third Report of Session 2017-19, HC 1597, 23 January 2019, summary, p 3
6 Ibid.
7 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming children's services, Eighty-Eighth Report of Session 2017-19, HC 1741, 22 March 2019, conclusion 5, p 7
8 Ibid, para 10, p 9
9 Ibid, summary, p 3
10 Committee of Public Accounts, Oral evidence: Transforming children's services, HC 1741, Qq 103, 124
11 Committee of Public Accounts, Transforming children's services, Eighty-Eighth Report of Session 2017-19, HC 1741, 22 March 2019, conclusion 2, p 5