DfE non-schools budget faces in-year cut of £450m, Treasury announces

The Department for Education’s (DfE) non-schools budget faces a cut of £450m this year, the Treasury has announced.

The department claims it will find the savings, part of £3bn of in-year cuts announced by Chancellor George Osborne today through “expected underspends”, efficiencies and “some small budgetary reductions”.

But an exact breakdown of how the savings will be achieved is yet to be released.

A DfE spokesperson said: “These savings will come from a variety of measures including expected departmental underspends in demand-led budgets, efficiencies and some small budgetary reductions.”

Here are some of the responses so far on twitter…

So the DfE have to find £450m of cuts to non-school budgets
Let's think, what extravagance are we spending £450m on?https://t.co/Vm0OiPEvP3

— Andy Jolley (@ajjolley) June 4, 2015

https://twitter.com/xtophercook/status/606437942412877824

£450m cut in non schools element DfE, £450m for BIS – both in year cuts. Would expect DfE to draw on underspend for part. BIS more tricky.

— Jonathan Simons (@jonathansimons) June 4, 2015