The Department for Education has 40 civil servants working to develop prime minister Rishi Sunak鈥檚 Advanced British Standard qualification 鈥渧anity project鈥 even though it is unlikely to see the light of day. Pepe Di鈥橧asio, incoming general secretary of the ASCL leaders鈥 union, said it was 鈥渂eyond frustrating that 鈥 at a time when recruitment, retention, funding, SEND and many other issues are under enormous pressure 鈥 there is a platoon of civil servants鈥 having to work on the qualification. Developing a 鈥淏ritish baccalaureate鈥 was a key pledge in Sunak鈥檚 leadership bid in 2022. The prime minister announced last year that his government would replace A-levels and T-levels with , which will see pupils study English and maths to 18 alongside 鈥渕ajors鈥 and 鈥渕inors鈥 in other subjects. However, the reforms are expected to take at least a decade to implement and, with the Conservatives mired in the polls and Labour focused on early maths education rather than post-16, the policy is unlikely to come to fruition. Despite this, the government last year published an 80-page consultation on its plans and set aside 拢600 million for implementation. Staff time costs could be in the millions In response to a freedom of information request, the DfE told Schools Week that 40 civil servants were 鈥渃urrently working mainly on the development of the ABS鈥. The government said it did not hold data on the amount spent on its development but, if 40 civil servants on the average salary for the department worked full-time on the policy for a year, the cost would be 拢2.6 million. Pepe DiIasio However, those working on policy development are likely to be more senior, and the figure of 40 staff provided by the DfE does not include staff from other teams who have contributed, so the true cost is likely to be higher. A DfE spokesperson said they did not 鈥渞ecognise these figures and these calculations are purely speculative鈥, adding that they were 鈥渢aking the long-term decisions to continue to improve our education system for generations to come鈥. Di鈥橧asio said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a qualification that will not be offered for another 10 years, if it happens at all, and seems more like the prime minister鈥檚 vanity project than a workable policy. 鈥淭o say this is the wrong priority is an understatement, and smacks of rearranging the deckchairs while the Titanic heads for an iceberg.鈥 Staff not ‘re-assigned’ from other things, DfE insists The DfE said that, alongside the 鈥渃ore directorate鈥, there are a 鈥渘umber of teams across the wider department who are contributing to the development of ABS alongside other priorities鈥. Bridget Phillipson These include members from legal, commercial and finance units, 鈥渁s well as wider schools- and skills-focused policy teams鈥. The department also insisted that staff 鈥渉ave not been re-assigned from other projects to undertake this work, as the department operates a flexible approach to staffing in order to ensure that it can meet priorities. 鈥淭his means that staff responsibilities can shift depending on needs. As part of this we also operate flexible resource teams, particularly to manage surge policy and analytical projects. As such, a list of projects from which staff have been re-assigned is not held.鈥 Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, told journalists at the ASCL school leaders鈥 union conference on Saturday that 鈥渞eform in the 16 to 19 space is not my priority鈥. Labour will instead focus on early maths skills. Paul Whiteman, leader of the NAHT union, said: 鈥淕iven the number and sheer scale of the challenges facing schools, this simply should not be a major priority for the DfE.鈥