, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary,
responding to the Government’s announcement of a consultation on
school funding, said:
“Over the last decade, the Conservatives have stripped funding
away from the children who need most support. And their ‘feeble’
recovery plans fall far short of what is needed.
“Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan would invest in teaching and
the extracurricular opportunities every child needs to bounce
back from the pandemic and reach their full potential.
“With the gap in learning between kids on free school meals and
their peers widening, it couldn’t be clearer the Government has
got the wrong priorities.
"This consultation is a test of whether the Conservatives really
want to match Labour’s ambition for our children.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies: “School
spending per pupil in England fell by 9% in real terms between
2009–10 and 2019–20. This represents the largest cut in over 40
years”. https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15150
- The National Audit Office has found that funding for schools
in the most deprived areas has declined whilst increasing for
schools in the most advantaged areas: “Between 2017-18 and
2020-21, average per-pupil funding in the most deprived fifth of
schools fell in real terms by 1.2%, while per-pupil funding in
the least deprived fifth increased by 2.9%. In total, 58.3% of
the most deprived fifth of schools saw a real-terms decrease in
per-pupil funding.”https://www.nao.org.uk/report/school-funding-in-england/
