Committees

Education Funding Agency and Department for Education Accounts

Inquiry

Background

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) is responsible for the funding of education for learners aged 3-19 or aged 3-25 for those with learning difficulties or disabilities. It is also responsible for the building and maintenance programmes for schools, academies, free schools and sixth form colleges. In 2012-13 the Agency distributed funding of £51 billion across the education sector.

The Department was required to consolidate all academies within its financial statements for the first time in 2012-13. This presented it with a number of challenges for the Department and the Comptroller and Auditor General qualified his opinion on a number of grounds due to concerns over errors and uncertainties. The Department published the account in January 2014.

This inquiry examines whether the creation of the Education Funding Agency has resulted into a coherent business, capable of securing value for money from its activities. It also examines the Department’s plans to address the causes of the qualifications of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s opinion.

Related information: