Education: Additional Funding (Hansard, 2 December 1998)

§ The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Baroness Blackstone)

The £19 billion represents the additional funding for education across the UK over the next three years. The table shows the details.

£ billion, UK	1998–99	1999–00	2000–01	2001–02
Planned spending on education	38.2	41.2	44.7	47.8
Additional funding in each year over 1998–99 levels	—	3.0	6.5	9.6
Total additional over three years	—	19.1

The additional £19 billion means that spending on education will rise by more than 5 per cent. each year in real terms over the next three years. This is the fulfilment of the Government's pledge that education would be its number one priority and that it will increase the share of national income spent on education.

The funds will be used to:

ensure a major boost to standards of literacy and numeracy by age 11;

cut truancy and exclusion by a third;

boost pupil attainment at age 16;

increase access to further and higher education;

raise levels of attainment at all levels post-16, and increase the proportion of those from lower income households staying on in education.

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Among the measures to achieve these ambitious goals, the Government will:

introduce a new Sure Start programme to give young children the best start in life;

fund a major numeracy campaign in primary schools to complement the National Literacy Strategy;

double capital spending on schools compared with the start of this Parliament;

a big increase in the Standards Fund;

make resources available to deliver our pledge on reducing class sizes 18 months ahead of schedule;

increase access funds and pilot an education maintenance allowance for those aged 16–18;

introduce a new pupil support grant to combat truancy and exclusion;

invest in the National Grid for Learning to link schools electronically and bring their IT into the 21st century;

increase participation in further and higher education.

Details of spending plans will be set out as usual in the spring in the departmental reports for DfEE, the Scottish Office, the Welsh Office and the Northern Ireland Office.