Funding, Rotherham (Hansard, 14 June 1994)

§ 8. Mr. Denis MacShane
To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will visit Rotherham to discuss funding of educational provision.

§ Mr. Forth
Department for Education officials visited Rotherham local education authority last Friday, 10 June, and discussed a range of education issues, including funding. They have briefed me on those discussions.

§ Mr. MacShane
Is the Minister aware that at the start of the next school term there will be 1,260 more children at school in Rotherham, but some 112 fewer teachers because of the cuts imposed by his Government? Can he convey to the Secretary of State for Education the great distress of the parents and teachers of Rotherham at the decline in the three Rs in that borough and suggest to the Secretary of State that the new three Rs are reshuffle, resignation—his own—and right now?

§ Mr. Forth
On reflection, the hon. Gentleman may regret the words that he has uttered because they are obviously an attack on the teachers and schools in his constituency. Every year, we get a ritualistic scare story from Labour Members about cuts in education and in the number of teachers. It has never been true in the past and it is not true this year, either. In a well-run local education authority and in schools which are well run as a result of taking responsible decisions with regard to their budgets, I am confident, and the evidence is, that the standard of teaching can and should increase; if not, people should be accountable through their councillors and governors for what is happening.

§ Mr. Tony Lloyd
In the event of further education colleges in Rotherham and, indeed, nationwide settling the dispute between college lecturers and college employers on the same basis as in Manchester college of arts and technology, will it be the Government's policy to insist on the holdback of moneys to further education, or will they accept that as a legitimate settlement?

§ Mr. Forth
I slightly admire the hon. Gentleman's ingenuity, but I do not think that he is entitled to draw the sort of general conclusion from the specific that he is seeking to do. He knows well the new arrangements that have been put in place. If he thought about it, he would understand the sort of benefits that will be available in the further education sector from the new arrangements. As for asking the sort of question that he has, I suggest that he consider retabling the question to my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Further and Higher Education, who will give him a direct answer.