Department for Education Consolidated annual report and accounts For the year ended 31 March 2020 Department for Education Consolidated annual report and accounts For the year ended 31 March 2020 Annual Report presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 5 November 2020 HC 865 © Crown copyright 2020 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open- government-licence/version/3 Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned This publication is available at: www.gov.uk/official-documents Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at Department for Education, Sanctuary Buildings, Great Smith Street, London. SW1P 3BT ISBN 978-1-5286-1841-0 CCS 0320361944 11/20 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Contents Performance report 7 Overview 8 Forewords 17 Structure of the Departmental Group 25 Financial review of the year 34 Performance analysis 42 Accountability report 71 Corporate governance report 73 Governance statement 87 Remuneration and staff report 105 Parliamentary accountability and audit report 130 Financial statements 155 Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure 156 Consolidated Statement of Financial Position 157 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 158 Consolidated Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity 160 Department and Agencies Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity 162 Notes to the accounts 163 Annexes 229 Annex A – Additional performance reporting 230 Annex B – Departmental statistics 232 Annex C – Data tables 240 Annex D – Glossary of key terms 248 Performance report 8 DfE Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 Overview This section sets out, at a high level, the Our business model Department’s objectives as laid out in We are a ministerial department supported its single departmental plan published in by 16 executive agencies (Agencies), June 2019, the key challenges to its delivery non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) and our objectives and how we performed and non-ministerial departments. Together during the year. the core department, Agencies and Who we are and what we do NDPBs make up the departmental group (Group) reported on in this annual report The Department for Education (the and accounts (ARA). The non-ministerial Department) is a major government departments report their performance department providing education, training separately. and care for everyone, whatever their We work closely with: background. • national and local agencies who look We are responsible for: after children • teaching and learning for children in the • local authorities early years and in primary schools • education providers, such as schools, • teaching and learning for young people in academies, colleges and universities secondary schools • professionals who work in schools and • teaching, learning and training for young further and higher education institutions, people and adults in apprenticeships, children’s services and health services traineeships and further education • teaching and learning for young people and adults in higher education • supporting professionals who work with children, young people and adult learners • helping disadvantaged children and young people to achieve more • making sure that local services protect and support children Performance report 9 Our vision Key risks Our vision is to provide world-class During 2019-20 the Department continued education, training and care for everyone, to strengthen its risk management whatever their background. We will make processes, and identified the key risks to sure that everyone has the chance to reach successful performance presented in the their potential, and live a more fulfilled life. We table below to successful performance. will also create a more productive economy, These do not include risks relating to so that our country is fit for the future. COVID-19 which emerged in March 2020. The Department’s response to these was The seven principles managed separately to the established As we strive to achieve our vision, seven risk management process. More detail on principles guide our work. These principles COVID-19 risks is provided on page 29. help direct our reforms and plans. The More information about the 2019-20 principles are cross-cutting and shape non-COVID-19 risks highlighted below is everything we do as a department, from provided later in the Performance Report strategy development through to delivery. and the Governance Statement. We will develop world-class education with the following principles: A significant number of further education colleges are not financially resilient enough to • ensure our academic standards make the long-term investments required match and keep pace with key High needs costs increase significantly more comparator nations than available funding Schools have an insufficient number of high- • strive to bring our technical education quality teachers resulting in poor educational standards in line with leading outcomes for pupils international systems We are unable to deliver timely and accurate • ensure that education builds character, 2020/21 allocations to the education and skills sectors resilience and wellbeing We fail to have in place enough critical To help achieve this we will: resource to deliver Corporate Services Reform Programme (CSRP) activities • recruit, develop and retain the best people we can, while remembering that in education and care, the most important factor is the people delivering it • focus on those most disadvantaged and prioritise in all that we do the people and places left behind • protect the autonomy of institutions by intervening only where clear boundaries are crossed • make every pound of our funding count 10 DfE Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 Our financial performance consolidated ARA to support parliamentary accountability by comparing the Group’s The Group is financed through the annual actual financial performance (outturn) to Supply Estimates process managed by its budgets (Estimate). The Statement of HM Treasury (HMT). Parliamentary Supply (SoPS), found in the The Group also generates low levels of Accountability Report, provides more detail revenue from levies and fees raised by its on the Group’s outturn against its Estimate. industry training boards and regulators, as In conjunction with the SoPS, we also well as fees and income from other public publish our financial performance based on bodies and third parties. the government’s accounting framework We are accountable to Parliament, HMT in the Statement of Comprehensive Net and the public for how we have used Expenditure which is found in the Financial public funds during the year. Annually, Statements section. the Department publishes its audited Performance report 11 12 DfE Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 The sectors we served this year Children’s services, early years and 75,000 wellbeing Looked-after children (2018-19: 75,000) 1.4m 400,000 2-4 year olds funded in early education Children in need (2018-19: 405,000) 52,000 Children subject to a protection plan (2018-19: 54,000) Schools Total number of state schools (including academies) Over 8,500 Open academies Over 3.3m Pupils in state-funded Over 550 secondary schools Open free schools 21,500 (2018-19: over 8,000 Pupils academies and 400 free with schools) 4.7m 1.3m special Pupils in state-funded educational needs (SEN) £40.7bn primary schools (2018-19: 1.1m) Number of full-time Core funding for schools equivalent (FTE) teachers in and high needs 453,000 state schools (2018-19: £39.7bn) (2018-19: 452,000) Performance report 13 The sectors we served this year Post-16 and skills Applications for support Over 1.6m 2m (2018-19: 1.8m) Funded students in further education and sixth form colleges 6m Telephone calls handled £17.6bn which included over £9.4bn English student loans (2018-19: £16.4bn) paid to around 1.3m Paid as tuition fees to providers in higher students on higher education courses education (2018-19: over £8.9bn) 198,600 Apprenticeship starts between August 2019 and January 2020 14 DfE Consolidated Annual Report and Accounts 2019-20 Our highlights this year Children’s services, early years and wellbeing 49% Of local authority children’s services are 331 600,000 rated good or outstanding by Ofsted Apprentices have Children have as at 31 March 2020, up started the new Social benefited from from 36% in 2017-18 Worker Apprenticeship 30-hours free childcare since 2017 Schools Senior mental health lead Training offered for a senior mental health lead in every school and college over five years from 2019-20 320,000 Over 508 open free schools £47 billion to provide over 320,000 places when Over £47 billion funding paid to providers across at capacity the whole sector on time Performance report 15 Our highlights this year Post-16 and skills more 25% 80 62 % likely 25% increase in Over 80 grants Disadvantaged undergraduate BAME awarded during 18-year olds 62% enrolments in UK 2018/19 from the more likely to enter HE providers Strategic College university in 2019 between Improvement