Fairer funding for Wokingham and West Berkshire schools

At the recent candidates debate for the Wokingham constituency some misunderstandings about fairer funding were on display.

I have been lobbying for fairer funding, making this clear in private meetings with the Secretary of State, in public debates and on this website. It is true Rob Wilson also took a delegation to see the junior Minister, Mr Gibb. When I heard about it after the event I also lobbied him, telling him of my exchanges with his boss, the Secretary of State.Local Conservative Councillors have been as keen on fair funding as I have been, and have also lobbied.

The main policy issue has been handled by the Secretary of State. I helped secure the place of fairer funding in the 2015 Manifesto, and have been keen to see the government enact it since. I did not agree with the formula proposed in the Consultation document, as I wish to see a higher proportion of the money allocated as an identical lump sum per pupil for every school which will help our schools and seems to me to be fairer. Many of the costs are similar around the country given national pay scales.

If elected to Parliament next week I will press for a better formula and will argue for increases in the total money going to English schools. One way or another I want our local schools to have a real increase to help meet their budgetary pressures.

Published and promoted by Fraser Mc Farland on behalf of John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1 XU

3 Comments

  1. Vanessa Lobato
    May 31, 2017

    Thank you for the update Mr Redwood. The devil is in the detail so please can you be specific about how much of an increase in the total money going to English schools you will be pressing for?

    According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies once expected inflation and student numbers growth are accounted for, Conservative plans in the GE 2017 manifesto would imply a real-terms fall in school spending per pupil of 2.8% between 2017–18 and 2021–22, which makes for a total cut of 7% between 2015–16 and 2021–22.

    The IFS continues to say that The Conservatives have committed to β€œincrease the overall schools budget by Β£4 billion by 2022”. Once you strip out inflation, this equates to a real-terms increase in the schools budget of around Β£1 billion compared with the level in 2017–18. Taking account of forecast growth in pupil numbers this equates to a real-terms cut in spending per pupil of 2.8% between 2017–18 and 2021–22. Adding this to past cuts makes for a total real-terms cut to per-pupil spending of around 7% over the six years between 2015–16 and 2021–22.

    I know that my son’s primary school in Wokingham (not an academy) is facing an 8% cut per pupil.

    Do you agree with this Conservative election commitment or are you going to push for more, and if so how much? Many thanks

  2. Vanessa Lobato
    June 2, 2017

    Comments are closed on your post about school money and class sizes from 22 April http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2017/04/22/school-money-and-class-sizes/

    The Tories’ favoured educational think tank, the pro-free school New Schools Network is against your suggested increase in class size “If managed well, small class sizes can be effective at raining public performance”.

    And surely the Brexit you have strongly campaigned for can only be achieved if we have a well educated and highly skilled work force which requires sensible investment in education . Current and proposed Tory party policy is holding back the rest untapped potential of Britain needed in our post Brexit country.

    Reply I am pressing for more money for our schools so we can have more teachers.

    1. Vanessa Lobato
      June 2, 2017

      *raining* should read ‘raising’
      **rest* should read ‘great’
      It’s early and I appear to have a touch of the Donald Trumps…..

Comments are closed.