8 School library services
Devolved
and delegated funding
118. Since 1999, DfES has prescribed that funding
be delegated fully to secondary schools for secondary library
services. This means that an individual school decides where this
funding is spent and consequently target spending on library services
by secondary schools cannot individually be tracked.[138]
119. Primary schools by contrast operate under a
different model as DfES sought to protect school library services
for primary and special schools. Although some education authorities
had already delegated funding, regulations were put in place to
allow others to retain funding centrally which could then be devolved
directly to schools as "earmarked" funding for schools
to procure library services from their own council or from another
local authority. Since 1999, those authorities that had chosen
not to delegate funding should be recording the "earmarked"
funding on their budget statements, thereby demonstrating how
much has been devolved. Where, however, funding has already been
delegated, as is the case with secondary schools, there is currently
no way of identifying this expenditure.[139]
120. According to the Audit Commission: "since
1999, both the number of councils reporting earmarked funding
as well as the level of earmarked funding for primary and special
school library services has fallen from the beginning to the end
of the period. This means either funding has been delegated to
schools or it has been cut."[140]
The following tables set out the pattern of decline over the last
six years.[141]
Table 12:
| Year | Earmarked funding(£)
|
| 1999/2000 | 15,200,000.00 |
| 2000/2001 | 11,560,000.00 |
| 2001/2002 | 8,613,000.00 |
| 2002/2003 | 5,692,000.00 |
| 2003/2004 | 6,383,000.00 |
| 2004/2005 | 6,417,000.00 |
Table 13:
| Year | Number of Councils reporting earmarked funding
|
| 1999/2000 | 103 |
| 2000/2001 | 73 |
| 2001/2002 | 57 |
| 2002/2003 | 43 |
| 2003/2004 | 51 |
| 2004/2005 | 51 |
Table 14:
| Year | Average earmarked budget provision per councils reporting earmarked funding (£)
|
| 1999/2000 | 148,000 |
| 2000/2001 | 158,000 |
| 2001/2002 | 151,000 |
| 2002/2003 | 132,000 |
| 2003/2004 | 125,000 |
| 2004/2005 | 126,000 |
In oral evidence, Lord McIntosh indicated that the
proportion of pupils nationwide who are funded by the school library
service has declined from 85% to 63%.[142]
121. While we may agree that schools are best placed
to determine how their library service needs are met, DfES made
the decision in 1999 that school library services for primary
and special schools needed protection. We were concerned at the
apparent lack of data to ascertain whether or not schools who
receive delegated funding for school library services are in fact
spending money on such services. We were further concerned at
the lack of data to enable outside observers to identify whether
school library services are providing a high standard of service
delivery and/or whether delegation of funding for these services
is having a detrimental effect.
122. When asked whether there was a concern that
schools were not buying back into school library services, Mr
Stephen Twigg, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools,
said: "If schools are providing alternative ways of ensuring
there is a good library service within the school and promoting
literacy and the love of books in other ways, I would be more
relaxed about it. If they are not providing those alternatives,
I would be very concerned about it."[143]
He continued: "Ofsted has a function there, school-by-school,
to determine whether that is happening. I am not convinced there
is a widespread issue of schools not promoting good library services
and the love of books within the school."[144]
123. The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted),
however, does not compile data on whether schools are buying back
into the school library service or providing appropriate high
standard alternatives nor do its reports comment on the relative
impacts of the differing approaches. Therefore, there is no way
of assessing whether the various arrangements for funding schools'
library services correlate to variations in the relevant standards
achieved by the schools.
124. Although they
are not strictly within the terms of reference of this inquiry,
we believe that the assessment of what is happening in school
libraries is extremely important and that the Government ought
to be in a position to ascertain whether schools who have had
funding delegated to them are in fact spending that money on library
services and whether delegation of such funding is having a positive
or negative effect on library services in schools.
125. Ofsted should
undertake a thematic study on the state of school library services
and the relationship between schools and public libraries. In
addition, Ofsted, in its report on a school, must include reference
to how that school provides its library services and the standard
of its provision.
126. We note the Government's proposals for Building
Better Schools for the Future and we
commend the Government for including, as one of their exemplar
designs for Building Schools for the Future, a model providing
for the co-location of public libraries with schools.
138 Ev 58 - 59 Back
139
Ibid Back
140
Ev 59 Back
141
Ev 59 Back
142
Ev 91, Q224 Back
143
Ev 91, Q220 Back
144
Ev 91, Q221 Back
|
