Standard Spending Assessment

HC Deb 17 February 2000 vol 344 cc1088-92

4. Mr. David Heath (Somerton and Frome)

If he will make a statement on inequalities in education standard spending assessment per pupil between local education authorities. [109131]

The Minister for School Standards (Ms Estelle Morris)

The Government are well aware of the widespread concern about the fairness of the current formula for funding local authorities. We announced in November 1998 a review in partnership with local government to look for a way of distributing revenue support grant that is simpler, more stable, more robust and fairer than the present arrangements for standard spending assessments. We will issue a Green Paper on options for change by the summer.

Mr. Heath

How can it be right for the Government to fund every child in every school in Somerset by £1,500 a year less than a child in a school in a leafy suburb of London? Does not the standard spending assessment contribute to that injustice? Local education authorities, which are struggling with that problem throughout the country, find it difficult to understand that stability means prolonging injustice.

Ms Morris

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. There is no justification for the figures that he cited. As soon as we took power, we started discussing a change in the formula with local authorities. In the first year, we were unable to reach agreement because not one local authority said that it had too generous an SSA. We have put in train consultation and work that will bring about change.

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman agrees that the problems of SSAs did not begin in 1997 and that the previous Government failed year after year to tackle them. We have acted quickly; we began the discussions in our first year in office, and we shall deliver shortly.

Mr. Mark Todd (South Derbyshire)

May I draw the Minister's attention to a question that I asked in 1998 on the same subject? I spoke of the inequity of funding for Derbyshire and Derby City schools. Derby City schools receive 13 per cent. less per pupil than a school in Slough, and Derbyshire schools receive 12 per cent. less per pupil than a school in East Sussex. When I first asked the question, my right hon. Friend's predecessor, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tyneside, North (Mr. Byers), said that he could not justify the existing system and that he intended to change it. That was in July 1998. When can we expect action?

Ms Morris

As I said in response to the previous question, we will issue a consultation paper in the summer, we will have the chance to discuss those options and we will make the change once we have got it right. On such an important matter, rushing and getting it wrong would be the worst thing that could happen. We need a system that offers local authorities and schools a stable formula in the years to come and I am happy to defend taking a bit more time to get it right because that is in the interest of children, teachers and parents. I know that my hon. Friend would also acknowledge that the Government made significant funding available for Derbyshire as part of the school class size initiative. It was one of the local education authorities that received most funding, which means that children in Derbyshire, Derby and elsewhere are in smaller classes than they would have been, had the Government not come to power.

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham)

Does the Minister know that Wokingham is given grant to support spending of only £2,218 per primary pupil and only £2,873 per secondary pupil, whereas neighbouring Reading, which has similar costs and problems, is allowed £2,500 and £3,270? Many constituencies represented by Labour Members receive more than £5,000 of allowed expenditure. Does she agree that that is grossly unfair and that, because of that injustice, there is not enough money for places such as Wokingham? Does she agree that the Government do not put their money where their mouth is? They are all spin and no delivery.

Ms Morris

I suspect that the right hon. Gentleman has a bit more time on his hands now. Perhaps he might use it profitably by looking back at expenditure in his schools when he was a leading member of the Conservative Government. I cannot recall whether he ever held an education portfolio, but he cannot escape his responsibility for having let down children year after year. Under the Government, there has been a 5.6 per cent. overall increase in SSAs this year and money for books, class sizes and the national grid for learning on top of that. That is a record of which to be proud. We need to consider the funding formula for schools and that is exactly what we have done in our three years in power. The right hon. Gentleman's Government failed to do anything in their 18 years.

Mrs. Anne Campbell (Cambridge)

I know that my right hon. Friend is aware of the unhappiness in Cambridgeshire caused by the differential between Cambridgeshire's SSA and that of some neighbouring authorities, but does she agree that there has been a real-terms SSA increase under the Government and that, in addition, the standards fund has brought £11.3 million into Cambridgeshire in the current year and is projected to bring in nearly £15 million next year? Does that not show where the Government's priorities lie? The Conservative Government developed the formula, but consistently failed to reform it.

Ms Morris

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Many questions have rightly been asked about the formula for distributing money to local authorities, but it is timely to remind people that that does not represent the sum total of the money that the Government put into education. When the standards fund and the literacy and numeracy strategy, which are funded centrally, are added together, expenditure far exceeds the 5.6 per cent. that has gone to local authorities, as she acknowledged.

Mr. James Clappison (Hertsmere)

Has not Ofsted's inspection of LEAs revealed that the biggest inequality is how well local authorities manage their resources? Are not 17 of the 23 LEAs in which it identified serious concerns Labour authorities, and has it not uncovered sorry stories of incompetence and political interference in LEAs under Labour up and down the country? For example, notwithstanding the promise of the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment, the hon. Member for Barking (Ms Hodge), that Islington would provide education in a class of its own", Ofsted found the authority to be "inadequate and ineffective". What about Sheffield under Labour control and the damning conclusions of Ofsted's report? There were financial difficulties and poor budget planning and school buildings were in an unacceptably poor state…frustration and demoralisation". What message does the Minister have for Sheffield? If these Ministers have any time on their hands, would it not be better spent cleaning up their own back yard?

Ms Morris

I know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State would want me to correct the hon. Gentleman on one point: Sheffield is run by the Liberal Democrats, not Labour. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Mr. Willis) will be pleased to learn that the same applies to Islington.

The hon. Gentleman was able to ask his question only because this Government have decided to inspect local authorities, because this Government have taken powers to ensure that they can do something when they are shown to be failing, and because this Government have made certain that the amount spent by local authorities and passported to schools is available to the public. None of that happened when the hon. Gentleman's party was in government. The information is now available, and we have already shown by our actions and our words over the past year that where there is failure—whether it be in a local education authority or in a school, and whether an authority is run by the Tories, the Liberal Democrats or Labour—we will take action. What we are about is raising standards for individual children, and not playing politics, as the hon. Gentleman has done.

Mr. David Taylor (North-West Leicestershire)

Further to the question from my hon. Friend and neighbour the Member for South Derbyshire (Mr. Todd), may I point out that there is an even worse case in terms of the county funding league? Leicestershire is used to heading the league in sporting terms, but in funding terms we do not, and the gap is becoming slightly larger: it is now £13 million a year. Does the Minister agree that that is a void into which many schools and students can plunge?

Ms Morris

The sum total of contributions from Members today simply enforces the Secretary of State's wish to change the formula and to ensure that it is fair and robust, so that, at future Question Times, Members can line up to congratulate us on the changes that we have made.