Publishers Association CEO Dan Conway writes to Chancellor on Oak National Academy

10th February 2025

Dear Chancellor,

Comprehensive Spending Review – Opportunity to reduce spending on the DfE Arm’s Length

Body Oak National Academy

I am writing to you on behalf of the Publishers Association. We are the membership body for the UK’s £11 billion publishing sector, which spans academic, consumer and education publishing.

In September 2022, the previous government made the decision to make the Oak National Academy (ONA) an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) at a cost of £43 million to the taxpayer over three years. For context, ONA produces and distributes ‘full sets of curriculum resources’ across all subjects for children from age five to 16. These curriculum resources are already provided for and invested in by the dynamic commercial UK education publishing market.

We believe there is an ongoing role for a public curriculum body, but that the deep and broad procurements into education resources overseen by the previous government were a wildly unnecessary and costly market intervention. The Oak National Academy was a pet project for Ministers now not in post and this is an opportunity for HM Treasury to sensibly and proportionately clip its wings. The Oak National Academy can serve a useful purpose for teachers, for example to draw on in times of school disruption as happened most prominently in the COVID-19 pandemic, without replacing commercial market provision at cost to the taxpayer.

The ALB is currently causing significant market damage, with a knock-on effect on investment and growth. Since ONA’s establishment as an ALB in the UK, the UK market for education resources has fallen by 12%, from £218.8 million in 2022 to £191.7 million in 2023. Jobs have been cut and planned investment cancelled.

As you will be aware, Cabinet Office guidance stipulates that ALBs must contribute to ‘the government’s policy objectives’ and be ‘a justifiable use of taxpayers’ money’. We therefore respectfully submit that, going forward, ONA’s scope be restricted to the maintenance of existing provision of resources and for no new procurement rounds to take place.

Our view is that there is an opportunity available for the Exchequer to reduce costs and retain a useful DfE ALB as well as a flourishing UK education resources market, ultimately supporting educational outcomes for children across the UK .

Yours sincerely,

Dan Conway

CEO, Publishers Association