It beggars belief that the Prime Minister has once again repeated a claim that has been so utterly discredited - Rayner

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, responding to the Prime Minister repeating discredited education statistics at Prime Minister’s Questions despite rebukes from the UK Statistics Authority, said:

“It beggars belief that the Prime Minister has once again repeated a claim that has been so utterly discredited. It is even more incredible when the Government’s own Statistics Authority has clearly told ministers to stop using this figure. 

"It is not only on Brexit where this Government is an utter failure. Students, teachers and parents deserve better than a Government desperately attempting to cover up its shocking record. The Tories have cut education funding by billions and their claims to have improved standards now lies in tatters.”

Ends

Notes to editors

• ·         Sir David Norgrove, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, has previously written to the Secretary of State for Education to state that the 1.9 million figure “does not give a full picture. It should be set in the context of increasing pupil numbers, changes to the inspection framework and some inspections that are now long in the past, as an earlier letter to the Department from the Office of Statistics Regulation pointed out.” https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/20181008_Sir_David_Norgrove_letter_to_SoS_for-_Education.pdf,https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/oct/04/government-accused-of-covering-up-schools-cuts-with-misleading-figures

• ·         House of Commons Library research of Government figures show that education spending has fallen by over £7 billion in real terms since 2011. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/education-spending-falls-more-7-13852586