News Release

26th March 2003

SLAP IN FACE FOR STAFFORDSHIRE STUDENTS

Despite Staffordshire being close to the bottom in school funding, the Government has not included the County in a new top-up scheme announced today (26th March 2003). A total of 36 local education authorities (LEAs) in England are to receive extra cash, but not Staffordshire. Michael Fabricant says "This is a further slap in the face to Staffordshire children, parents, and teachers. The Government recognises that their new funding formula announced this year is wrong, but has ignored Staffordshire which is the 4th worst funded shire county in the country. Back in 1997, Labour promised that Staffordshire would get an equal share of funding with other counties. This promise was not kept when 6 years later they announced a new funding formula for the nation's schools. The unfairness is still there." Councils and schools throughout the UK had complained that new arrangements had left them with large shortfalls. The Government has now announced an increase in the schools' budgets for the 36 authorities which received the lowest increases in education spending. Some had warned they would have to cut staff or even put schools onto a four-day week to stay within budget. The biggest winners include Croydon (£1.3m increase), which had warned it might have to go to a four-day week, and Waltham Forest (£2.1m increase). School standards minister David Miliband said today (26th March): "It is only right that the government listens to sensible representations about any major new system. We recognise that in some authorities the combination of a low increase in Education Formula Spending, coupled with reductions in grant through the Standards Fund may result in lower than expected budgets for schools. That is why we will pay an additional grant to authorities to ensure that the funding increase for education - not just that distributed through the LEA formula - this year is a minimum of 3.2% per pupil."

Michael Fabricant now asks: "But why have they ignored Staffordshire? I will be calling on all Staffordshire MPs, regardless of Party affiliation, to join me to protest in the strongest possible terms to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Charles Clarke. It is outrageous that despite all the years of injustice while Staffordshire has had to suffer the unfair allocation of school funding, now, when there was a chance to improve matters slightly, this Labour Government has ignored the plight of our County. I hope that Staffordshire headteachers will encourage parents to write to the Secretary of State too".

The lucky Authorities awarded extra top-up money by the Government (in £ millions) are:-

• Barking and

• Dagenham 1.128

• Bedfordshire 0.135

• Bexley 1.492

• Bournemouth 0.140

• Brighton and Hove 0.960

• Bromley 0.815

• Camden 1.168

• Croydon 1.302

• Dorset 0.318

• East Sussex 0.110

• Enfield 1.147

• Essex 1.162

• Hammersmith and Fulham 0.886

• Hampshire 0.278

• Haringey 1.330

• Havering 1.089

• Hertfordshire 1.000

• Isle of Wight Council 0.110

• Kensington and Chelsea 0.288

• Knowsley 0.736

• Lambeth 1.282

• Leicestershire 0.835

• Medway 1.295

• Norfolk 1.595

• North East Lincolnshire 0.033

• Plymouth 0.831

• Portsmouth 0.891

• Redbridge 0.903

• Richmond upon Thames 0.152

• Slough 0.376

• Southampton 1.016

• Southend 0.358

• Suffolk 0.108

• Sutton 0.503

• Thurrock 0.308

• Waltham Forest 2.140