Policy Hub
On 7 January 2009, the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee published a report (Public expenditure) which warns that plans must be made for schools and children's services to cope with an increasingly austere future. It forecasts that future funding will be much tighter than at present, with the rate of spending growth likely to be minimal come the next spending review.
The report welcomes the government’s continuing commitment to capital investment in education but is concerned that the review of Building Schools for the Future could lead to the programme being curtailed. It urges the Department for Children, Schools and Families to make a clear statement about the programme's future.
In addition, the report identifies key problems in relation to the presentation of expenditure figures in the department’s annual report, including confusion about which expenditure streams or grants deliver which objectives. It calls on the department to address these ambiguities, producing not only better and clearer presentations but greater detail in future.