THE ISSUE of school funding was on the timetable when Evesham’s MP met with Education Minister Nick Gibb to ensure the Government was still committed to reforming the school funding formula which is disadvantaging Vale pupils.
Nigel Huddleston held talks with the minister last week to reiterate how schools in Worcestershire have been ‘poorly’ funded for ‘way too long’ and pressed him on when fairer funding will be introduced.
Under the current funding formula, schools in the county receive £987 less per pupil funding compared to their counterparts in Birmingham.
The new system was meant to be introduced in 2017/18, but was delayed by a year by the new Education Secretary Justine Greening in order to carry out a wider consultation on the new funding formula.
Speaking following the meeting, Mr Huddleston said: “I had a very productive meeting with the Education Minister who was able to reassure me of the Government’s absolute commitment to a new funding formula.
“The national funding formula will mean that, for the first time, every pupil will attract funding at their school determined by individual circumstances regardless of where they are in the country or historical spending decisions.
“The Minister confirmed that the new system will begin to apply from 2018/19 with a total education budget of a record £40billion and that the changes would be phased in over a period of years.
The Mid-Worcestershire MP added that, overall, schools in the county will benefit from the new funding formula.
“Inevitably, with a limited national education budget some schools will lose and some will gain under the new formula, so the changes will be controversial; but I believe it will be fairer and more consistent across the country and will on average benefit Worcestershire schools which have been relatively poorly funded for way too long,” he added.
“The Minister told me that further details on the proposals will be released very soon and I hope this will help local schools with their financial planning for the next few years,” he added.
