In another step towards delivering on the government’s pledge to invest a total of £14 billion over three years, the Department for Education has today (17 December) published school funding allocations going to every local authority in England.

This is the second of a three-year cumulative £14 billion funding boost, compared to 2019-20, that gives school budgets their biggest increase in a decade.

Every pupil in England will benefit from a funding boost. The allocations to local authorities, based on the most up to date numbers of pupils in each school, mean that the majority of local authorities will see increases of more than three per cent in the funding allocated per pupil.

Delivering on the Prime Minister’s pledge, every school will get more money for every child – “levelling up” funding and helping to spread equality of opportunity for all. Every school is set to receive the new minima of £5,150 per-pupil funding for secondary schools next year, and £4,000 for primaries, up from the £5,000 and £3,750 which schools are receiving this year in the first year of the funding settlement.

Funding to cover increases to teacher pay and pensions worth £2 billion will also be included from 2021 rather than paid separately, reassuring schools that the funding will continue to be provided in their core budgets.

Extra funding for small and remote schools is increasing by more than 60% next year through the national funding formula, reflecting the financial challenges that these schools can face, and the unique role they play in local communities.

School Standards Minister Nick Gibb said:

Every pupil, no matter what their background, deserves an excellent education and the chance to fulfil their potential.

This three-year school boost is part of our commitment to level up outcomes and opportunities, giving the biggest increases to schools that have historically received lower levels of funding.

It builds on the significant support we have introduced to help the most disadvantaged pupils, including our £1 billion Covid catch up fund to tackle the impact of lost teaching time as a result of the pandemic.

The three-year funding settlement is helping make sure all children and young people receive an excellent education, regardless of where they grow up or go to school.

Alongside this, funding for the pupil premium will continue in 2021-22 with per pupil rates protected to remain the same as this year. This means schools will benefit from £1,345 per eligible primary pupil, and £955 for every eligible secondary pupil.

High needs funding to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is also increasing by £730 million next year, a 10% increase that will bring the total high needs budget to more than £8 billion.

The government’s £1 billion Covid catch up fund is also helping tackle the impact of lost teaching time as a result of the pandemic, including a £650 million catch up premium for this academic year and a £350 million National Tutoring Programme which is on the way to reaching hundreds of thousands of pupils by the summer.

Further, £44 million is being invested in early years in 2021-22, to increase the hourly rate paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers.

Also announced today is the provisional Local Government Finance Settlement for 2021-22, providing councils a complete picture of their funding streams for next year.

Local Government Secretary Robert Jenrick has today (17 December 2020) announced new measures to address the serious failures at Nottingham City Council and begin to turn it to around so it can again deliver value for money for the taxpayer. This follows a non-statutory review into the council’s finances last month.

An Improvement and Assurance Board, made up of experts in governance and finance, appointed by the department, will be set up to help the council deliver the report’s recommendations on governance and company ownership.

The council must put forward their 3-year recovery plan by the end of January 2021. This will set out how they will improve their financial position and review their investments. They must submit progress reports to the Department on a quarterly basis.

The measures come in response to a rapid non-statutory review commissioned in November to examine serious governance and risk management issues, including those associated with the council’s private energy company Robin Hood Energy.

Councils have a duty to manage taxpayers’ money responsibly and are held to account where they are found to have failed to do so. The review team, led by Max Caller CBE, found that the council’s financial strategy and commercial investment decisions over the past 4 years have resulted in a very significant budget gap and low levels of reserves.

It also highlighted that the council failed to understand the roles and responsibilities associated with managing their companies and, as a result, ended up with significant debts.

Local Government Secretary Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP said:

The rapid review into Nottingham City Council highlighted appalling financial and management issues within the council. Taxpayers and residents have been let down by years of disgraceful mismanagement and inept ventures such as Robin Hood Energy, that have wasted tens of millions of pounds that should be being spent on public services. These must end now. The council has a window in which to demonstrate that it is capable of running the city and turning the situation it has created around.

I will be appointing an independent expert panel to help them urgently address this by producing and delivering a comprehensive recovery plan.

Given the scale of the changes needed, it is vital that the council act quickly for the benefit of the communities they serve. I will be monitoring progress closely and do not rule out further action.

The department will continue to work with the council to understand the range of financial issues they are experiencing and will consider any request that the council submits for additional financial support from the government.

In the event of a failure by the council to demonstrate significant progress, a more formal statutory intervention will be considered, including the appointment of commissioners.

The findings of the review have been published on GOV.UK alongside the Local Government Secretary’s letter to lead reviewer Max Caller CBE.

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Moscow Mechanism invoking participating States: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain.

Mr. Chairperson,

In November 2018, 16 participating States took the important step of invoking the OSCE Moscow Mechanism to look into multiple allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses in the Russian Federation’s Republic of Chechnya that allegedly were committed during January 2017 to November 2018 against LGBTI persons, human rights defenders, members of the independent media, lawyers and others.

In December 2018, the Report resulting from the Moscow Mechanism found that “harassment and persecution, arbitrary or unlawful arrests or detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions” had indeed occurred. The Report also found “a climate of impunity” surrounding such violations and abuses. We called on the Russian Federation to make full use of the report and to implement all recommendations contained therein, in order to address the issues raised in a constructive manner and to stop the human rights violations and abuses in its Chechen Republic under the leadership of Ramzan Kadyrov.

Mr. Chairperson,

Two years have passed since the report resulting from the Moscow Mechanism was issued. Still, there has been no constructive response to the report or its recommendations from Russian federal and local authorities. Meanwhile, new information has come to light about additional allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses in Chechnya.

Reports of abuses against LGBTI persons continue to emerge. A young woman, Aminat Lorsanova, has come forward and alleges that in 2018 her relatives had her institutionalized successively in two separate treatment centers where she was beaten repeatedly in an attempt to change her sexual orientation. Chechen authorities have created an atmosphere that normalizes and condones such despicable acts of violence against LGBTI persons, while federal authorities continue their deafening silence. In January of this year, Aminat Lorsanova filed a complaint with the Russian Investigative Committee, which still has taken no action.

We also are alarmed by reports of a sharp increase in enforced disappearances in Chechnya. Ramzan Kadyrov’s security forces continue to routinely engage in appalling acts of violence to punish any form of dissent. The Chechen authorities appear to be targeting primarily young persons who have engaged with content on the Internet criticizing the Chechen authorities. According to the human rights group Memorial, at least twenty-two individuals have been unlawfully detained in recent months. Some reportedly remain in incommunicado detention under the control of Chechen authorities.

We are particularly concerned by credible reports of the recent disappearance of nineteen-year-old Salman Tepsurkayev, a moderator for the Telegram social media channel 1ADAT. He was allegedly kidnapped by Chechen security officials on September 6 and taken to the Terek Special Rapid Response Police Compound in Grozny. Subsequently, Salman Tepsurkayev appeared in a video that showed him under conditions of extreme duress for allegedly helping to “spread lies” about Chechen authorities.

We also are deeply troubled by the case of Movsar Umarov, who was arrested at his workplace in Grozny on July 18, allegedly for watching a video blog produced by Tumso Abdurakhmanov, a popular critic of Chechen authorities. In late August, Movsar Umarov’s family was informed that he had “escaped” from detention and was no longer in custody. His family has not heard from him since. In October, local authorities opened a murder investigation at the request of Movsar Umarov’s mother, who fears he may have been extrajudicially killed.

Mr. Chairperson,

Multiple times over the past two years, we have called on the Russian Federation to put an end to the human rights violations and abuses in its Chechen Republic, to protect the victims, and to respect the dignity and human rights of all individuals without discrimination. We have repeatedly called on the Russian Federation to conduct prompt, effective and thorough investigations into all reports of such violations and abuses, in order to ensure that anyone responsible or complicit is held accountable.

Despite these calls the climate of impunity described in the Moscow Mechanism Report continues to prevail in Chechnya.

We renew our call on the Russian Federation to pursue investigations and to act without further delay on the recommendations of the Moscow Mechanism rapporteur to:

1. “Open an inquiry into the actions of the government of the Chechen Republic towards LGBTI people”
2. “Express a commitment at the highest level of the executive branch of the Russian Federation to fully investigate the allegations and to bring to justice the alleged perpetrators, including those belonging to the local security forces”
3. “Make sure that all Chechen authorities, including law enforcement and security agencies, fully comply with Russia’s domestic legislation and international human rights obligations”
4. “Assure that the pre-investigation in politically sensitive cases in the Chechen Republic is led by investigators from the federal and not the regional level”
5. “Reform the pre-investigation (pre-check) mechanism in a way that fully ensures its independence and effectiveness; in the case of investigating alleged human rights violations in Chechnya the Federal Investigative Commission and its investigators should be used”
6. “Open a new pre-investigation/pre-check on the federal level into the case of the 27 persons allegedly killed by Chechen security forces or undertake a special investigation with the inclusion of international experts” We will continue to monitor the situation in Chechnya and to raise our concerns until we receive a substantive response from the Russian Federation and observe tangible progress in Chechnya