ESFA Update academies: 1 July 2020
Published 1 July 2020
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2020
This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.
This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-update-1-july-2020/esfa-update-academies-1-july-2020
1. Latest information on coronavirus (COVID-19)
The Department for Education has published guidance about COVID-19 in educational settings for staff, parents and carers, pupils and students on GOV.UK.
Please check GOV.UK regularly for updates.
2. Information: reducing burdens on educational and care settings from the Department for Education and its agencies
To help reduce the burden on educational and care settings at this time, in April 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) and its agencies cancelled or paused all but the most essential data collections, services and requests and published the list.
The list of collections and services was reviewed in June 2020 and a revised list has now been published along with a summary of changes. Data collections which are paused will next be reviewed in September 2020 and the pause period extended if necessary.
For further information, and the full list of data collection changes, please read the guidance on reducing burdens on educational and care settings.
If you have any questions, please email managing.burdens@education.gov.uk.
3. Information: consultation response on subcontracting post-16 education and training with ESFA funding
We have published our response to subcontracting post-16 education and training with ESFA funding. Some of the key reforms include:
- reducing the volume of subcontracted activity
- requiring providers’ Corporations and Boards who choose to subcontract to publish a curriculum rationale for their subcontracted activity
- placing restrictions and limits on types of subcontracting that have been identified as higher risk
- acting on use of brokers to ‘sell on’ provision to subcontractors
- improving the management and oversight of subcontracting, assessed through a new subcontracting standard
- improving, across ESFA, the use of the data and audit returns to identify and act on risks
We will work with the sector to test and implement these changes to ensure that the offer for learners is central and will set out the detail of these reforms later this year. You can read the full consultation response on GOV.UK.
4. Information: Department for Education Sustainability Award
DfE is inviting nominations for the 2020 Sustainability Award, which forms part of the Educational Estates conference in October.
The award aims to celebrate education institutions in England that have made a significant attempt to become more sustainable.