When government departments publish things on the day that Parliament rises for Easter recess, they’re usually trying to bury bad news.
So-called “take out the trash day” (named after a notable episode of the West Wing) has brought all sorts of goodies over the years, but we can’t remember DfE’s annual funding letter to the sector being one of them.
The main text bit of last year’s letter – signed by both Nadhim Zahawi and Michelle Donelan – weighed in at 2,252 words. This year’s effort – which must have been using the same template because the Chrome tab says “MD Letter” – is 1,819.
If you’ve been following the Industry and Regulators Committee inquiry into the work of the Office for Students you’ll be aware that one contentious point has been the overall volume of ministerial guidance letters flowing from DfE to OfS.
