Schools ‘need multi-billion cash injection to fix 'broken education funding system', say MPs
2 min read
Schools urgently need a multi-billion pound cash injection to fix the "broken education funding system", MPs have said.
A report by the Education Select Committee says spending on schools has not kept pace with rising demand, and ministers "desperately need" to come up with a ten-year plan to fix it.
The MPs said schools were increasingly being asked to cover additional services such as mental health provision and more complex special educational needs without adequate resources.
The committee calls for an immediate "£3.8billion uplift" foro the sector, and that Department for Education secures more money from the Treasury under the pupil premium scheme.
Tory former minister Robert Halfon, who chairs the Education Committee, said: “If it is right that the NHS can have a ten-year plan and a five-year funding settlement, then surely education, perhaps the most important public service, should also have a ten-year plan and a long-term funding settlement.
“Substantial amounts of money have been allocated to education by the Government, but spending has not kept pace with the growing demands placed on our schools and colleges.
“Alongside the ten-year plan, the Government needs to cover the 8% funding gap currently faced by schools.”
He added: “Given the march of the robots and the rise of automation, it is extraordinary that further education has for so long been starved of cash.
“Funding further education properly must sit at the heart of a ten-year plan.”
Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said the report is the “latest evidence that Tory cuts have damaged our schools and colleges and failed a whole generation of children”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: "While it is accurate to say that school funding is at its highest level, we do recognise that there are budgeting challenges.
"We are glad to see that school and further education funding is being highlighted as an important issue ahead of the next spending review, where the education secretary will back the sector to have the resources they need."
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