HC Deb 26 June 2003 vol 407 cc1195-6
15. Mr. Mark Hoban (Fareham)

If he will make a statement on school funding in 2003–04. [1217091

The Minister for School Standards (Mr. David Miliband)

We have invested a record £2.7 billion more in education funding this year, and we have introduced a new funding system which is widely recognised as being fairer than the old one. However, as we have discussed today and on many other occasions, some schools have faced difficulties this year. We are committed to ensuring that every school receives a reasonable per pupil increase for next year and the year after that.

Mr. Hoban

I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. However, despite Hampshire county council exceeding the Government's passporting targets, schools in my constituency have to balance the books this year, and if they are to avoid making redundancies, they have to use their reserves. If schools in Fareham do not receive a fair deal for the funding that they need, redundancies will hit next year rather than this.

Mr. Miliband

I take seriously the views of the head teachers in the hon. Gentleman's constituency, who are writing to explain the position. However, if he is interested in a fair deal, he should try to persuade his Front Benchers to support the current levels of spending—we have not yet heard whether they do. Until he persuades them, we cannot take him seriously.

Mr. Brian Jenkins (Tamworth)

I am someone who is interested in a fair deal, so will the Minister remind us and explain to the House again why a school in a deprived area in a county such as Hertfordshire should receive more Government funding than a school in Tamworth with the same level of deprivation, facing the same cost profile? Will he tell us?

Mr. Miliband

My hon. Friend raises an important point. He will be reassured to know that the pupils in the two schools to which he referred receive the same amount of money from the Government. The difference is in how the local education authority in each case decides to spend that money.

Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough)

Not true.

Mr. Miliband

The Government provide the same money per pupil across the country where the circumstances of the pupil are the same. The local education authority then has a choice about whether to fund similar pupils in the same way at school level. That is a choice that local authorities have to make.

Angela Watkinson (Upminster)

What would the Minister say to the London borough of Havering, which received an increase of only 3.5 per cent. in its central Government grant this year? It has passported well in excess of 100 per cent. of its education grant to its schools, yet the very small grant that it received means that schools are still suffering extreme financial hardship as they try to balance their budgets. No matter how much the authority passports to schools, it is still not enough.

Mr. Miliband

The hon. Lady will know that the amount of money available for distribution to schools depends partly on how much money comes from central Government and partly on how much is raised locally. The distribution to individual schools depends on the number of pupils in each school. I do not know whether the schools to which she refers are losing pupils, but that is a significant problem in a number of primary schools. There are 50,000 fewer primary school pupils this year than there were last year. I am afraid that there will be 50,000 fewer again next year, and another 50,000 fewer the year after that. That is a problem across the country, and we have to take it seriously.