Departmental Overview The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 DECEMBER 2014 Our vision is to help the nation spend wisely. Our public audit perspective helps Parliament hold government to account and improve public services. The National Audit Office scrutinises public spending for Parliament and is independent of government. The Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), Sir Amyas Morse KCB, is an Officer of the House of Commons and leads the NAO, which employs some 820 employees. The C&AG certifies the accounts of all government departments and many other public sector bodies. He has statutory authority to examine and report to Parliament on whether departments and the bodies they fund have used their resources efficiently, effectively, and with economy. Our studies evaluate the value for money of public spending, nationally and locally. Our recommendations and reports on good practice help government improve public services, and our work led to audited savings of £1.1 billion in 2013. Contents Introduction Aim and scope of this briefing 4 Part One About the Department 5 Part Two Developments in this Parliament 13 Part Three Recent NAO findings on the Department 28 Appendix One The Department’s sponsored bodies at 1 April 2014 49 Appendix Two Results of the Civil Service People Survey 2013 50 Appendix Three Publications by the NAO on the Department since April 2013 52 Appendix Four Cross-government reports of relevance to the Department since September 2013 53 Endnotes 54 Links to external websites were valid at the time of publication of this report. The National Audit Office is not responsible for the future validity of the links. 4 Introduction The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Introduction Aim and scope of this briefing 1 The primary purpose of this report is to provide the Education Select Committee with a summary of the Department for Education’s (the Department’s) activity and performance since September 2013, based primarily on published sources, including the Department’s own accounts and the work of the National Audit Office (NAO). 2 Part One focuses on the Department’s activity over the past year. Part Two examines developments in this Parliament. Part Three concentrates on NAO analyses of activity over the last year. 3 The content of the report has been shared with the Department to ensure that the evidence presented is factually accurate. 4 The financial information contained within this report is drawn from the Department’s most recently published accounts for the financial year 2012-13. Updated information on the Department’s accounts for the financial year 2013-14 and on the views of staff, collated as part of the 2014 Civil Service People Survey, will be available in early 2015. The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Part One 5 Part One About the Department The Department’s responsibilities 1.1 The Department for Education (the Department) was formed on 12 May 2010 succeeding the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It is responsible for education and services for children and young people up to the age of 19 in England. 1.2 The Department’s strategic priorities for this Parliament are to:1 • increase the number of high-quality schools and introduce fair funding; • reform the school curriculum and qualifications; • reduce bureaucracy and improve accountability; • train and develop the professionals who work with children; • improve services for children in their early years; and • improve support for children, young people and families, focusing on the most disadvantaged. How the Department is organised and governed 1.3 The Department works with 9 agencies and public bodies to deliver its priorities and objectives (Figure 1 on pages 6 and 7), the most significant of which is the Education Funding Agency (the Agency) (see further information at paragraph 1.10). More than 90% (Figure 2 on page 8) of the Department’s funding from Parliament is devolved to other bodies that use it to fund a range of providers, including: • 17,300 maintained schools as at January 2014;2 • 3,600 academies as at January 2014;3 • 366 further education and sixth form colleges;4 and • 121,300 providers of childcare and Early Years education.5 6 Part One The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Figure 1 Structure of the Department Department for Education Chris Wormald Nicky Morgan Permanent Secretary Secretary of State Paul Kissack Shona Dunn Andrew McCully David Laws Nick Boles Nick Gibb Director General, Director General, Director General, Schools Minister Skills and School Reform Children’s Services Education Standards Infrastructure Equalities Minister Minister and Departmental and Funding Strategy Lord Nash Jo Swinson Edward Timpson Sam Gyimah Tom Shinner Simon Fryer Simon Judge Schools Women and Children and Families Childcare and Director, Strategy Director, HR Director, Under-secretary Equalities Under-secretary Education Financial and Under-secretary Under-secretary Commercial Executive agencies Rose Pennell Paul Marshall Peter Lauener Principal Private Lead non-executive Chief Executive, Secretary to the board member Education Funding Education Funding Standards and National College Secretary of State Agency Agency Testing Agency for Teaching and for Education Leadership Theodore Agnew David Meller Jim O’Neill Non-executive Non-executive Non-executive board member board member board member Non-ministerial departments Ofsted Ofqual Advisory non-departmental public bodies Executive non-departmental public body School Teachers’ Social Mobility Office of the Children’s Commissioner Review Body and Child Poverty Commission Other Office of the Schools Adjudicator Source: National Audit Offi ce, based on Departments, agencies and public bodies listing available at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations#department-for-education The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Part One 7 Figure 1 Structure of the Department Department for Education Chris Wormald Nicky Morgan Permanent Secretary Secretary of State Paul Kissack Shona Dunn Andrew McCully David Laws Nick Boles Nick Gibb Director General, Director General, Director General, Schools Minister Skills and School Reform Children’s Services Education Standards Infrastructure Equalities Minister Minister and Departmental and Funding Strategy Lord Nash Jo Swinson Edward Timpson Sam Gyimah Tom Shinner Simon Fryer Simon Judge Schools Women and Children and Families Childcare and Director, Strategy Director, HR Director, Under-secretary Equalities Under-secretary Education Financial and Under-secretary Under-secretary Commercial Executive agencies Rose Pennell Paul Marshall Peter Lauener Principal Private Lead non-executive Chief Executive, Secretary to the board member Education Funding Education Funding Standards and National College Secretary of State Agency Agency Testing Agency for Teaching and for Education Leadership Theodore Agnew David Meller Jim O’Neill Non-executive Non-executive Non-executive board member board member board member Non-ministerial departments Ofsted Ofqual Advisory non-departmental public bodies Executive non-departmental public body School Teachers’ Social Mobility Office of the Children’s Commissioner Review Body and Child Poverty Commission Other Office of the Schools Adjudicator Source: National Audit Offi ce, based on Departments, agencies and public bodies listing available at: www.gov.uk/government/organisations#department-for-education 8 Part One The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Figure 2 Department for Education expenditure in 2012-131 Non-departmental public bodies £123m Other expenditure4 Department £488m for Education Other agencies2 £56,178m £613m Other grants £660m 16–18 Apprenticeships £673m Early Intervention Grant £2,360m Other expenditure Local authority maintained £99m5 schools with sixth forms £1,136m Pupil Premium £989m Education Local authority Funding Agency maintained schools £51,259m £30,948m3 Dedicated Other grants Schools Grant £1,240m £29,935 16–19 Further Education £3,782m Academies Capital £9,870m £4,185m Notes 1 Figures exclude transactions between entities within the departmental group. Individual items of expenditure may not sum to totals owing to rounding. 2 Refers to the Department’s other 2 executive agencies – Standards and Testing Agency and National College for Teaching and Leadership, see further at paragraphs 2.17 to 2.19. 3 £30,948 million includes additional grant scheme expenditure of £24 million. 4 Figure includes programme staff costs, administration and staff costs, corporation tax and other miscellaneous expenditure. 5 Figure includes programme staff costs and other administration and staff costs. Source: National Audit Offi ce analysis of Department for Education group and Education Funding Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 The performance of the Department for Education 2013-14 Part One 9 1.4 The Department also determines policy for providing children’s services to some 380,000 children in need6 and 69,000 children in care.7 1.5 During 2012-13, the core Department directly employed an average of 2,845 full-time equivalent staff,8 2% higher than the number employed in 2011-12.9 Maintained schools and academies across England employed approximately 450,000 full-time equivalent teachers and 243,000 teaching support staff, as at November 2013.10 Departmental governance 1.6 The Secretary of State for Education has overall responsibility for the Department and is supported by 7 ministers (Figure