Audit report finds Better Schools Fund “could do better”

A new report from the Assembly Audit Committee has expressed concern about the administration of the Assembly Government’s Better Schools Fund. Aimed at simplifying the previous scheme, GEST, and making it easier to implement, it has not been as successful as hoped in its first years of operation. The Better Schools Fund provides targeted grant support for Local Education Authorities to help them with the development of initiatives for improving standards of teaching and attainment in schools. It is the largest single source of Assembly Government funding for in-service training and other school development activities. For 2005-06, gross funding, including local authority matched funding, was £49.4 million. The Committee found that during the period 2000-01 to 2005-06, the Assembly Government failed to meet most of its key planning milestones. That slippage reduced the time available for LEAs to plan activities and find matched funding. Delays in confirming grant allocations may also have held up the planning of some development activities during the summer term, potentially a good time for development activities, when many teachers are least likely to be involved in teaching. The report is concerned that the evaluation of the Better Schools Fund, and the projects funded by it, is not robust enough and the Assembly Government’s assessments of LEAs’ spending plans are not robust and lack consistency. The planning of the scheme has also suffered from insufficient Assembly Government policy lead involvement in consultation with LEAs.   The report makes seven recommendations, including setting minimum standards of evaluation by LEAs as a condition of grant funding, and improvements in planning and assessment of spending plans. Janet Davies AM, Chair of the Audit Committee, said: “The Better Schools Fund aims to improve the previous system for allocating grants, but the Assembly Government needs to act upon our recommendations to achieve this. The scheme should allow schools to put robust plans in place on time and with as little bureaucracy as possible."