Public expenditure - first report of session 2004-05, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence (Paperback)

The Committee's report examines a range of issues relating to the expenditure and management of services by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), including the effectiveness of increased education spending levels since 1997, the funding of schools, staff reductions, financial management capabilities, and further education spending. Conclusions reached include: i) links between educational expenditure and outcome remain difficult to establish, and the Government should take great care in making claims about the effectiveness of increased spending in raising levels of achievement which the evidence cannot be proved to support; and ii) the funding changes introduced for 2004-05, which have had far reaching consequences, were taken by the DfES based on perceptions of crisis and without an accurate picture of the financial situation of schools across the country.