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This is our summary from last year’s Autumn Statement. Click here to see our Autumn Statement 2012 preview

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Autumn Statement 2011: Schools and education

Here is our summary of the Autumn Statement announcements for schools and the education sector:

• A further £380 million a year by 2014–15 was pledged for 15 hours free education and care a week for disadvantaged two year olds. This means an extra 130,000 children will now be eligible.
• £600 million will be invested for 40,000 school places in LAs that need them most.
• An extra £600 million will be spent to fund 100 additional Free Schools.
• Osborne on Academy Schools: “The last government took six years to create 200 academies. We have created 1,200 academies in just 18 months.”

Whilst the promise to build 100 new free schools was made, the announcement on schools funding will unfortunately do nothing for the vast majority of schools and sixth form colleges facing significant cuts to their budgets. The 1% public sector pay increase announced for next year is also unlikely to favour well. However, the Academy school take-up has gained significant momentum giving schools more control over their budgets.

Return to our Autumn Statement homepage

Related Posts

• New funding for Academies
• Spring Academy Update
• Academies Update – June
• Academy spending data released by DfES