1. In 2021, the Department for Education announced that it would provide local authorities with a High Needs Provision Capital Allocation (HNPCA) for the 2021-22 financial year. The HNPCA is to be paid to local authorities in a single instalment in July 2021.
As part of the assurance arrangements for this grant, the Department for Education requested that each local authority provide:
‘a short grant assurance data return to provide details of projects they intend to fund using their HNPCA return. Local authorities therefore should complete the published template on GOV.UK, setting out their intentions for the funding.
Please provide me with a copy of the completed assurance data return template file that your council sent to the Department for Education for the HNPCA. If possible, please provide a copy of the completed Excel template file (.xlsx) rather than a pdf file.
The completed Excel template file of the HNPCA return can be viewed on this Devon County Council webpage.
2. In conjunction with the HNCPA data assurance request, the Department for Education also asked local authorities to:
‘update and republish their local plan relating to the separate Special Provision Capital Fund (SPCF) for a final time… …LAs should provide the DfE a copy of their published SPCF local plan and/or a link to the published document, when they return their completed HNPCA assurance return by 30 June 2021.
Please provide me with a copy of the published Special Provision Capital Fund local plan that your council submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) to comply with this request. If your council provided the DfE with a link to a published SPCF plan instead, please provide me with the same link to the same plan.
The completed Excel template file of the Special Provision Capital Fund can be found on this Devon County Council webpage.