The petition of residents of Beverley and Holderness,
Declares that the petitioners believe the existing school funding model in England is arbitrary and unfair; further declares that the ten best funded areas of England have on average received grants of £6,300 per pupil this year, compared to an average of £4,200 per pupil in the ten most poorly funded areas of England; and further declares that the petitioners welcome the Government’s commitment to introduce fairer school funding.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons supports the earliest possible introduction of a new National Funding Formula for schools in England.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Graham Stuart, Official Report, 1 December 2015; Vol. 603, c. 303 .]
[P001559]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Mr Sam Gyimah):
The Chancellor confirmed at the spending review our intention to introduce national funding formulae for schools, high needs and early years, so that funding is transparently and fairly matched to need. At the budget in March he pledged £500 million to speed up transition to the national funding formula, this will help get extra funding quicker to those schools that need it most.
We are currently developing our plans for the national funding formula and the first phase of a two-stage consultation concluded on 17 April.
Once we have had the opportunity to consider all the responses from our first consultation we will proceed to the second stage. This will address the details of the formula and set out the anticipated impacts on the reforms on individual schools. We would encourage you all to take the opportunity to contribute your views on our proposals.
The results of the consultation and the Department’s response will be published on www.gov.uk later this year.