We have been advised by the Department for Education (DfE), that they will shortly be announcing their latest round of local authorities who they will begin to support against their Safety Valve plans. We are not expecting to be listed.
We have been informed that Ministers have decided that the DfE could not enter into an agreement with us at this time, based on our most-recent proposal.
This does not mean we have been rejected from the Safety Valve programme. We remain committed to working with the DfE, teachers, parents, children and young people to deliver a solution that protects education provision for all going forward.
We always knew that our recent safety valve proposal challenged the DfE’s criteria and we have acted with integrity in making clear that we will not sign up to a deal that would see our services fall below the statutory requirements as set by government.
The department’s decision to not progress with our proposal at this current time does not change our financial position in relation to the DSG deficit and we remain in discussions with the DfE as part of their Safety Valve programme.