APPENDIX 52
Second supplementary memorandum from the
Department for Education and Skills (DfES)
INTRODUCTION
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) asked
the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for further information
relating to DfES resources for Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD) and the Environmental Action Fund (EAF). This is in addition
to the memorandum DfES sent to the Committee in December 2004
and the supplementary evidence it provided in February 2005.
This further supplementary memorandum has been
compiled by DfES with input from the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).
DFES RESOURCES
It is DfES policy to embed funding for ESD within
the different policies which have responsibility for some part
of ESD. This is to enable ESD to be embedded within the relevant
policy area, and to spread ownership of the agenda within DfES.
In 2004-05, NGOs will be funded by about £1 million for ESD
projects. In addition, DfES will be spending £161,000 over
the next two years for the Sustainable Development Commission
to help us implement the Department's SD Action Plan, including
the recruitment of Dr Jake Reynolds as Senior Adviser.
The initial memorandum the DfES sent the EAC
gives details about how ESD is coordinated within DfES and we
would ask the EAC to refer to this for further information. The
"Green Net" has approximately 20 members from all the
education and skill sectors, and the amount of time each official
spends on ESD depends on their particular policy area. As mentioned
in the Supplementary Memorandum DfES sent the EAC in early February
2005, one of the Department's priorities is the need to continue
to adopt best practice in environmental management within DFES
and its partner organisations, and to raise awareness among staff
of ESD.
The Director of Strategy and Communications,
Michael Stevenson, who gave evidence to the EAC along with Derek
Twigg on 19 January, has overall responsibility for coordinating
ESD. He is supported by four staff within his Directorate and
a Senior Advisor on Sustainable Development, who either work full-time,
or devote much of their time, to ESD.
As mentioned above, DfES does not have a separate
budget for ESD. However, we will look at particular projects put
to us on their merits. For example, our work with Forum for the
Future on Sustainability Literacy is a result of Forum approaching
DfES for support. We are also exploring with Defra the possibility
of joint funding projects on ESD.
It is difficult to draw comparisons between
ESD and school sport, healthy living and citizenship. ESD is an
agenda which is covered by most of DFES' work. The other policies
which have been compared by the EAC to ESD are well-established
mainstream policies, with a statutory requirement for schools
to deliver.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
AND SCHOOL
SPORT
There is a statutory requirement for sport within
the National Curriculum. The Government is investing over £1.5
billion in PE and school sport from April 2002 to March 2008 to
help meet a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target. The target
is to increase the percentage of pupils that spend at least two
hours on high quality PE and sport, within and beyond the curriculum,
to 85% by 2008. The money is coming from DfES, DCMS and the Big
Lottery Fund. The money is also geared towards enhancing school
sports facilities which must be accessible to the wider community.
There is large investment into PE and school sport because of
the impact that high quality PE and sport can have on pupils well
being, not only in terms of health but in learning essential social
and problem solving skills. We also know that effective PE has
an impact on whole school improvement, particularly on improving
behaviour and developing citizenship skills, such as leadership.
In DfES, four people work on this area.
HEALTHY LIVING
Just like ESD, Healthy Living is not a curriculum
subject but an overarching agenda into which a number of DfES
teams and policies feed eg the National Healthy Schools Standard
(NHSS). NHSS has three members of DfES staff working on it, but
not exclusively. DFES and the Department of Health (DH) are providing
£5.7 million via the Standards Fund to work with schools
on NHSS in 2004-05. £4 million of the £5.7 million comes
from DH.
There is also £1.1 million of cross-government
(DfES, DoH, Defra, Food Standards Agency) funding over three years
to spend on projects that aim to improve school food and reinforce
healthy eating messages taught in the classroom. The work equivalent
to three full-time members of DfES staff is allocated to this
topic.
Also, nutritional standards are statutory for
school meals, although part of the ongoing work is to review the
current standards.
CITIZENSHIP
For citizenship, schools use their overall resources
including those available through the Standards Fund arrangements,
to support citizenship education. There is not a specific funding
amount. Citizenship education is a statutory part of the secondary
school national curriculum. Two members of DfES staff work on
citizenship, although not exclusively.
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION
FUND (EAF)
DfES, along with other consultees, received
summary information on each of the 250 applications, with the
option to request full application papers, and were invited to
comment on as many applications as they chose.
Defra invited comments in the context of the
published criteria and in terms of how a particular project matched
up to the sustainable consumption and production priority, how
realistic and valuable the project was, and how competent the
group concerned would be in delivering the project. Defra Ministers
had the final decision on the bids.
EAF is periodically reviewed to judge its effectiveness
and guide its future direction. This means that its criteria can
be directed to support strategic priorities. The 2002-05 round
included education for sustainable development. In terms of raising
awareness of sustainable development issues, all rounds of the
EAF grant have, to some extent, included elements of education.
This includes the new 2005-08 round, which is specifically focused
on the strategic priority of sustainable consumption and production
and is looking to effect behaviour change. Education and awareness
raising will be a part of this, but the EAF was looking for projects
that went beyond just awareness raising to delivering action for
more sustainable consumption behaviours.
The EAF in 2005-08 is funding some projects
that are working with schools and school children and that put
in strong bids to influence patterns of consumption amongst these
communities.
It would not be in line with the Department's
overall policies to take on the specialised work of NGOs or to
fund the many services available to schools. Rather, we are diverting
as much funding as possible directly to schools so that they can
make appropriate decisions locally as to which services they wish
to buy in.
GROWING SCHOOLS
The Department's Growing Schools programme goes
from strength to strength. The Growing Year Calendar, produced
in association with Gardening Which, the Royal Horticultural Society
and the Henry Doubleday Research Association, had been requested
by 15,000 teachers, pupils and parents. The website (www.teachernet.gov.uk/growingschools)
attracts more than 10,000 unique users a month and provides a
broad and useful service to both NGOs and schools.
February 2005
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