Fairer Funding progress for our schools - ending the system where Northumberland gets less than the funding for urban schools

Fairer Funding, an initiative pioneered by this government, received a firm forward push, in this week’s Budget. I, and others, have pushed for this to happening sooner rather than later and I am delighted that the Chancellor has  agreed to bring this forward.
George Osborne set out the government’s acceleration of fairer funding, with the first National Funding Formula for schools to be in place from 2017-18. The funding ramp-up aims to have 90 per cent of schools, which are due additional funding under the National Funding Formula, to receive the full amount they are due by 2020.

The government will also provide around £500 million of additional core funding to schools over the course of this Spending Review, to speed up the process. This is on top of the commitment to maintain per pupil funding in cash terms. A fairer deal for schools is getting a real shot-in-the-arm.

There was also more excellent news for schools in Tynedale, and the wider North East, as the Chancellor pledged a further £20 million a year of new funding for a new Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy.

This new funding will ensure rapid action is taken to push up educational progress in the North. The investment will support “proven leaders and outstanding schools”, in a mentoring scheme that will see our best schools helping to bring up neighbouring ones that are not doing so well.  It will also pay for the best schools to fast-track to become teaching schools, and the best heads to be national leaders of education.

The Budget also saw a government that is committed to ensuring that all school pupils achieve a good standard of core skills. The government will commission Sir Adrian Smith to review the case for “more or all” students, to continue to study maths at 18 in the longer term. Maths is a vital core subject, fundamental to everyday life, and the modern economy. Surely, it makes sense to ensure that all pupils leave school with Maths as part of a solid educational foundation.

PM confirms Fairer Funding for schools going forward

PMQs this week saw the following exchange, which impacts on our campaign for fairer the school funding in Northumberland and our fight for enhanced and changed funding to schools:

Michael Tomlinson MP:                                          

Schools in Poole are in the bottom five and schools in Dorset are in the bottom 11 when it comes to local education authorities and funding per pupil. I welcome this Government’s commitment to a fairer funding formula. Does the PM recognise the importance of fairer funding for our schools in Poole and Dorset, and the need for that to be implemented as quickly as possible to ensure a world-class education for our children, including respect for our traditions, and perhaps even learning the importance of our national anthem?        

David Cameron The Prime Minister,                                          

My hon. Friend makes a very important point. There are very strong calls on all sides to ensure that we address fairness in funding. In the last Parliament we allocated £390 million extra for fairer funding, and his own authorities, Dorset and Poole, benefited from that, receiving £3.1 million and £3.2 million respectively. I can tell him that that money is included in the baseline for schools funding in 2016 and 2017. But I know that there is unfairness in the current system and I want us to do everything we can to make the funding formula fairer.

Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 16 September 2015, c1045)

PM gives unequivocal assurance on Fairer Funding for Northumberland Schools

I have long campaigned to get greater funding for our local schools here in Ponteland and Tynedale. The massive imbalance between urban schools and rural schools is unfair, and now addressed in any event by the pupil premium. So I was delighted to hear the following exchange at Wednesday's PMQs.

Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con): Yesterday the National Audit Office called for the introduction of a fairer schools funding formula so that it is 

“related more closely to their”—

that is, pupils’—

“needs and less affected by where they live.”

Can the Prime Minister confirm from the Dispatch Box that the additional and very welcome £390 million awarded last year as a first step towards a fairer funding system will be incorporated into the baseline for future years?

The Prime Minister: I can say that we will implement the pledges in our manifesto on this issue because we need to make funding fairer across the country. If we look at the figures today, it is clearly unfair that a school in one part of the country can receive over 50% more funding than an identical school in another part of the country. We have already made some progress on this, but I want us to go further.

Schools Funding announcement sees even more money for Northumberland

This must be the first Consultation ever where we in Northumberland have done better than before the Consultation: after the representations made by headteachers and governors we will now receive a 7.2% increase in April 2015 - I raised this in the House on Monday:
Guy Opperman (Hexham, Conservative)
A school funding revolution is taking place in Northumberland as the fairer funding consultation will lead to an increase in April 2015 of up to 7.2%. That is also a revolution for our governors, who, under the previous Government, were often consulted but always ignored. Will the Minister take this forward and ensure that we have fairer funding for all?

David Laws (The Minister for Schools; Yeovil, Liberal Democrat)
As my hon. Friend ingenuously points out, the funding reforms we are making will certainly help governors and teachers in schools. As a result of his campaigning and that of many other hon. Members we are introducing the fairer funding system next year. When we consulted on this, Northumberland was initially going to benefit to the tune of £10.6 million. I can say that the final settlement is that Northumberland will receive £12 million more to ensure that it is funded fairly in the future.

Schools like Heddon on the Wall First School will get more money with the Fairer Funding campaign

I have been campaigning on school funding since 2008 - it is the same point that I hear from Headteachers at every school school I visit. But Heddon is the best example: you walk out of Heddon and walk down the hill to Throckley and Newburn and within 3 minutes I am in Newcastle Education area. And the difference in education funding is almost £1000 per pupil. This is changing thanks to the £10 million plus top up funding announced by Schools Minister, David Laws MP, in the spring. I visited Heddon last week and met the Headteacher and the children who are celebrating their recent award and also helped with the campaign for the local park     

Separately I have had to make the point that the Coalition is addressing the Fairer Funding campaign and genuinely changing school funding to rural counties who have lost out for so long under successive governments. More details here: http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/hexham-mp-guy-opperman-defends-7342667

My question and answer with the Prime Minister today - 26 minutes 50 seconds in

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0480vdx/prime-ministers-questions-25062014

F40 - will it be fair?

Education Question 2 today at 2.30 - I am hoping to ask the SOS for guidance on whether all schools will be fairly treated so that all schools receive a leg up not just the chosen few, as decided by the County Council.

School Funding the Taoist Way - the longest journey starts with the smallest step

Campaigns take a long time as an MP. You start with a simple idea, but the process of initiating change in a parliamentary democracy does take time. Nothing illustrates this argument as well as Fairer Funding for our schools - knows as the F40 campaign. It is patently wrong that the formula per pupil means that Newcastle schools receive over £800 per pupil more than Northumberland pupils. This, coupled to 3 tier, transport and various complex issues of rural deprivation mean it is extremely difficult to sustain our schools in Northumberland, particularly when compared to other schools budgets. I have visited over 30 of our schools in my patch and am shortly off to revisit Beaufront First School and go for the first time to Greenhead. I am always impressed by the wisdom, hard work and make do attitude of our headteachers and teaching staff.
 
This week we debated fairer funding in parliament. Many of the F40 campaigners spoke. The debate was led by Robin Walker MP for Worcester, who along with Richard Graham, the MP for Gloucester. have been doing the heavy lifting in the campaign. Two years ago in April 2012 we called for this change and debated the steps needed to be taken: Robin Walker MP in his opening speech on Tuesday set the scene, and explained why we are all Taoists now....

"Many hon. Friends in the Chamber today were with me in the debate initiated by my hon. Friend Richard Graham in April 2012, when we welcomed the Government’s commitment to a fairer formula but bemoaned the lack of a down payment to begin its delivery. It was my hon. Friend Guy Opperman who invoked the Chinese proverb of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, who said that "the longest journey begins with a single step." That single step has now been taken. Many parts of the country can rejoice at that. Of the £350 million targeted at helping the lowest-funded authorities, some £172 million—slightly less than half—is coming to F40 authorities. Cambridgeshire, South Gloucestershire, Northumberland and Shropshire all see gains of more than 6% as a result of the projected allocations and, of 34 current members of F40, 23 are seeing some uplift."

For the full debate and my short speech see here:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2014-04-29a.173.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g183.1

Today is the last day of the Fairer Funding F40 Consultation; have you made your representations?

Want more money for your school in Northumberland? Then make sure you return the short consultation document today as April 30 is the cut off point

I can walk over the border from Northumberland, which receives £5,241 per pupil, to Newcastle upon Tyne, which receives £6,052 per pupil—a difference of £809.

 

Teachers in some of my schools in Northumberland, such as East Tynedale, send their own children to schools in Newcastle, which can almost not spend their money, while Northumberland is struggling desperately. The system must change, and I welcome hugely the 6.4% uplift of £10 million coming next April. I have written to all my head teachers urging them to respond to the wider consultation.  I thank those who have written to me, including Ponteland Middle school, Mickley and Whitley Chapel first school, making the case, and the many others who have responded.

The long and short of the matter is that rural schools have been in a singularly difficult situation for many years under successive Governments. In areas with a three-tier system, such as Northumberland, it is particularly complex because the system is focused increasingly on two tiers. I mean no disrespect to the Department for Education, but it seems to struggle and have great difficulty understanding 3 tier school systems. We must have a continuing campaign. I endorse the point that we must scrutinise all political parties on their approach at the general election, because the matter will not be solved overnight. The long journey has had many steps, but they are leading in the right direction. I welcome what we have done for F40 and I support the campaign.

We debated the F40 Fairer Funding campaign in Parliament yesterday and my short speech was here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2014-04-29a.173.0&s=speaker%3A24962#g183.1

Calling all Northumberland Teachers /Governors/ Pupils - is your School underfunded? You can do something about it

The key news is that there is
- both a financial increase of 6.4% next year to Northumberland schools.
- and a consultation on change.

Last week the Government announced that schools in Northumberland will receive an extra £10.6 million funding in 2015/16, addressing the historic unfairness in the way school funding has been allocated. This 6.4% uplift is part of a proposed £350 million boost to the most underfunded local authorities. It represents a step towards removing the unfairness which exists in the school funding system - which has seen Northumberland's schools underfunded compared to their urban counterparts in Newcastle and Gateshead for many years.
I raised this with the Schools Minister David Laws in the House of a Commons last week:
Question:
"Last summer the Minister visited Northumberland, where schoolchildren have, historically, been chronically underfunded, compared with those in other areas, by central Government. May I welcome the 6.4% increase in early 2015 and the ongoing consultation, and observe that the case for fairer funding is absolutely overwhelming? The Minister should prepare for a lot of representations from my head teachers.”

Mr Laws responded:
 "I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his welcome of our announcement. I congratulate him on his robust campaigning over a period of time to ensure this fairer funding settlement. As he knows, under our plans Northumberland’s per pupil funding rate will increase by around £269 per pupil per year, which will mean over £10 million more for schools in his area."
The school funding system that we inherited is fundamentally unfair. It is a postcode lottery that results in pupils attracting very different levels of funding without good reason. Compared to schools in Newcastle and Gateshead, Northumberland's schools have got a raw deal for far too long.

The Announcement is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-laws-oral-statement-on-minimum-funding-levels

The consultation document is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/fairer-schools-funding-2015-to-2016
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