HC Deb 29 January 1997 vol 289 cc348-9
7. Mrs. Ann Winterton

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if she will make a statement on primary school funding in Cheshire. [11732]

Mr. Robin Squire

Cheshire's provisional standard spending assessment per primary school pupil in 1997–98 is £1,976. That is £73 per pupil, or 3.8 per cent. more than this year. Now it is up to the authority to ensure that the increase in spending power that we are providing reaches the schools.

Mrs. Winterton

Given that we are spending more per pupil than ever before, will my hon. Friend acknowledge that Cheshire county council has increased spending on primary education and is now halfway up the shire county league table rather than bumping along at the bottom, as it was under the last Labour administration at county hall? Will he now implement the recommendations of the area cost adjustment review—notwithstanding the opposition of the four local government associations, which are dominated by Labour and Liberal administrations—so as to ensure that both primary and secondary schools in my constituency of Congleton receive further fully justified additional finance?

Mr. Squire

I congratulate Cheshire local education authority, under its Conservative chairmanship, on giving education higher priority. As for the review of the area cost adjustment, my hon. Friend will be aware that we decided not to implement the recommendations in 1997–1998 essentially because more work needs to be done on the review team's findings. My hon. Friend is also aware—she referred to it in her question—that, when we consulted the four local authority associations, not one of them wanted the review to be implemented in the coming year.

Mrs. Dunwoody

Is the Minister aware that Cheshire primary schools now have real problems because of consistent underfunding of the county? That has not just happened; it has been the case for a long time. Moreover, the imposition of the voucher scheme has considerable implications for both primary and nursery school places. Will the Minister now admit that his education policies are failing the children of Cheshire?

Mr. Squire

On the contrary—to cite, in particular, the policy to which the hon. Lady adverted, far from damaging education in Cheshire, the nursery voucher scheme gives Cheshire and every local education authority an opportunity to enhance current pre-school provision. In the hon. Lady's constituency, more vouchers will shortly be going out than there are currently places for four-year-olds. That will provide an opportunity for her local education authority, along with all the others, to play a part in the expansion.

Mr. Patrick Thompson

In connection with education funding in Cheshire, some of us are becoming tired of the continual argument between local authorities and Government about education spending—I certainly am. Does my hon. Friend accept that some hon. Members still believe that education funding should be taken out of local government altogether?

Mr. Squire

I note my hon. Friend's suggestion. It would clearly reduce the number of questions that I have to answer, so I can see an advantage there.

As my hon. Friend knows, thanks to his wide and long experience in education, there will always be discussions between Government and local authorities. We have a national system that seeks to distribute funds fairly throughout all authorities. Most important, since taking office the Government have increased funds per pupil in all our schools by nearly 50 per cent. in real terms. That is a tremendous achievement, of which I may need to remind Opposition Members continually.