Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Accepted
Monitor tutoring provision after subsidy withdrawal and intervene if levels drop significantly
Recommendation
We are not confident that schools will be able to afford to provide tutoring on the scale required to support all the pupils who need it once the Department withdraws its subsidy. By the end of 2021/22, pupils had started 2.5 million courses under the National Tutoring Programme. The Department made available funding of £594 million to subsidise the cost of tutoring in that period. But it is reducing its subsidy for tutoring under the National Tutoring Programme each year, with the result that the rate of subsidy will drop from 75% in 2020/21 to 25% in 2023/24. After that, schools will have to cover the full cost of tutoring from other sources, such as pupil premium funding. School budgets are already under significant pressure. Written evidence submitted to us shows that some schools are struggling to fund the cost of tutoring in 2022/23, when the Department is still providing a 60% subsidy. The Department wants tutoring to become an integral part of the school system, but it is clear that without extra funding schools will find it difficult to maintain tutoring on a comparable scale to that currently being provided. The Department has committed to model the impact of removing the subsidy on the affordability of tutoring for schools. Recommendation 4: The Department should monitor how much tutoring is being provided, in 2022/23 and 2023/24 when it is providing a subsidy, and in subsequent years, and intervene if tutoring levels drop significantly.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with Recommendation 4, committing to monitor tutoring volumes via school census and year-end statements, develop interventions for significant drops, and has already increased the 2023-24 subsidy rate from 25% to 50% to improve programme deliverability.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with Committee’s recommendation [PAC Rec 4]. Target implementation date: December 2024. The department agrees that it is important to monitor the volume of tutoring that schools are providing, which is why schools are asked to report on tutoring via the termly school census and a bespoke year-end statement. This monitors the number of pupils receiving tutoring, the number of hours delivered, and schools spend on tutoring overall. The department is developing interventions that may be deployed, as appropriate, in academic year 2023-24 or in subsequent years, should there be a significant reduction in the amount of tutoring schools provide. Furthermore, having listened to schools’ concerns over the 25% subsidy rate previously communicated, the department has set the subsidy rate for the academic year 2023-24 at 50% to make the programme more deliverable for schools. This means that schools now need to contribute less of their own money than originally planned. The department nevertheless recognises that funding can be challenging for schools. To meet their costs when providing tutoring, schools will be able to continue to use funding streams like the Pupil Premium, which will rise to almost £2.9 billion in 2023-24.