§ Ms. Joan Ruddock (Lewisham, Deptford)I beg leave to present a petition concerning the resourcing of education in Lewisham. The petition carries the signatures of more than 1,000 people who are residents of the London borough of Lewisham and of parents with children in Lewisham schools who live in adjoining boroughs.
The petition sheweth that:
Her Majesty's Government broke up the Inner London education authority without a mandate from the electorate. and against the explicit wishes of a large majority of inner London parents, expressed in a properly conducted ballot.The inadequate time scale and funding of the transition from the Inner London education authority to London Boroughs has caused serious difficulties in every London Borough.These difficulties have been compounded by the community charge and by Government cuts in spending.Lewisham has been unfairly treated by an underassessment of the social needs of the borough, and by the deliberate discriminatory policy of the Government, for example, to fund Haberdashers' City technology colleges far more generously than LEA schools.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the Honourable House do agree that Her Majesty's Government should increase the funding to education in Lewisham, by restoring transitional funding to 1990–91 levels and by increased standard spending assessments for the borough's services.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray etc.
§ To lie upon the Table.