Education: Return in January

David Amess Excerpts

Wednesday 30th December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson]

I am sure that the hon. Lady is aware of the gold command chaired by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which looks at all the decisions on tiering and other measures that need to be taken to deal with the pandemic. Those decisions will be made as part of that health structure through joint working by the Health Secretary and me, because the powers to close sit with me as Education Secretary. The hon. Lady will be familiar with gov.uk; notice and details of the areas that will be put in the contingency framework are published on that website.

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I welcome my right hon. Friend’s statement. Will he join me in thanking all education providers in Southend West for their heroic efforts during the coronavirus pandemic? Most importantly, will he ensure that when they return to school there is clarity in a practical sense regarding testing and the arrangements for the summer examinations?

[Gavin Williamson]

I thank my hon. Friend for raising the wonderful work that educators, teachers and support staff have done in providing the Rolls-Royce education that we want all children to benefit from. We have already published considerable guidance and support for schools as they roll out mass testing; we have also published information about the funding that they can receive, so that they can properly budget and provision for the type of support that they need to roll out that mass testing. With respect to the—I hope—small number of schools that have particular problems in establishing a testing regime, the armed forces have kindly stepped forward, along with Ofsted, to provide and establish support in the exceptional circumstances in which schools and colleges are having real problems.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Amess Excerpts

Monday 12th October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Donelan]

Universities are offering blended learning unless they have moved to a higher covid tier, in conjunction with their local Public Health England team. But let me be clear: no university should seek to profit from students self-isolating, and reported charges of £18 a day for food parcels are quite simply outrageous. Students self-isolating in catered halls should receive free food, while other students should receive food that is either free—as many universities, including Sheffield Hallam and Edge Hill, are doing—or at a price that can be afforded within a student’s budget. I have spoken to many universities on this, and I am also writing to them to make the point.

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

What steps his Department is taking to support special schools during the covid-19 outbreak.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson)]

We have published specific guidance to support the full opening of special schools. Recognising the additional challenges that they face, we have announced a package of support worth £1 billion, which includes a £650 million catch-up premium with additional weighting for specialist settings. We are also increasing the high needs funding by an additional £1.5 billion over this year and next.

[Sir David Amess]

I visited the excellent Fairways Primary School in my constituency this morning. I have also been contacted by two special schools, Estuary High School, which is having difficulty in getting tests for their students in their residential homes, and Kingsdown School, which is very worried about the new guidance issued on 28 August in terms of social distancing. Will my right hon. Friend look at those two points for me, please?

[Gavin Williamson]

All schools are issued with sets of testing kit, and they have the ability to order more via the NHS portal. I would be very happy to look at the two points highlighted by my hon. Friend.

Small and Village School Funding

David Amess Excerpts

Wednesday 17th July 2019 Westminster Hall

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Just before we start the next debate, there are a lot of colleagues here, and it would be very helpful if, through a note, those who have not already written expressing a wish to speak could let me or the Clerk know, so that I can make sure that no colleagues are disappointed.

[Neil O'Brien (Harborough) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered funding for small schools and village schools.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David. This debate is about two things that overlap but are not the same: small schools and village schools. My focus will be firmly on primary schools. About a fifth of schools are in villages, and on average they have just over 100 pupils, compared with an average of about 400 for schools in large cities. These village schools are good schools; only about 8% are not “good” or “outstanding”, compared with 11% nationally and about 15% in towns and small cities. They are also much-loved institutions, at the heart of their community, and they are where the community gathers for special occasions. Just the other day I was at the Church Langton Primary School fête watching the children do some intense Japanese drumming. I could equally have been at the Foxton family fun day or any number of other wonderful occasions in my constituency.

Village schools are also where people meet each other and the community organises. For example, the campaign for a road crossing in Lubenham in my constituency is being spearheaded by the children of Lubenham Primary School, and I am being bombarded by their very neatly handwritten letters. It is no wonder that people feel that a village loses its heart if it loses its school.

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[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Order. The winding-up speeches will start at 5.15 pm, so there is about five or six minutes per person.

Instrumental Music Tuition

David Amess Excerpts

Monday 25th February 2019 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Ross]

My hon. Friend gives me a great opportunity to introduce the last piece of evidence I want to highlight. Alice Ferguson, a Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, said that, as a result of learning to play a musical instrument, she felt she became more resilient, confident and open-minded in everything she does. Importantly, she also said that she benefited from the creativity and from the feeling that she was part of a community, part of a band, and that it was really good for her mental health.

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his speech, and I am sorry to learn of the circumstances in his constituency. Does he agree that music and song can transform the lives of people with learning difficulties? Will he join me in welcoming the fact that, following their success at the London Palladium, David Stanley and the Music Man Project will be taking more than 200 youngsters to perform at the Albert Hall on Monday 15 April? After that, they hope to go to Broadway.

[Douglas Ross]

I wholeheartedly congratulate David Stanley and the Music Man Project on taking so many young people to perform in those prestigious venues. Maybe that is yet another reason why Southend-on-Sea should be considered to be made a city. These things add up.

Policy makers and budget leaders need to wake up to the crisis we are facing. Our young people need their representatives to stand up for musical instruction, and not to see it cut time and again. We cannot let it become available only for those who get tuition for free or those from rich enough families, for whom staggering increases matter less. If we did, a huge spectrum of talent and potential could miss out. They would suffer because of that, and so would we.

In responding to this debate, I hope the Minister will acknowledge the positive impact that music instruction has across the country and will outline what we can do to protect and enhance this service, because the benefits are clear for all to see.

In closing, I return to Moray and the legacy of John Mustard. I was disappointed that a recent meeting of Moray Council’s children and young people’s committee missed the opportunity to thank John for his work, so let me try to convey the thanks of pupils, past and present, who have benefited from John’s passion and enthusiasm. I will quote people who left messages on social media after his decision was announced. Brian said:

“I doubt John Mustard shall remember me as a child, but I clearly remember him, as I do all of the other music teachers at my school. It saddens me that someone such as John, who spent a lot of his own time involved in many of the school…projects, has been painted into a corner in such a way. I do not believe Moray Council can have any understanding of the social and cultural legacy John and his colleagues leave behind in the decades of service they have given.”

Sarah added:

“I loved going to music centre on Saturdays throughout my school years and particularly enjoyed Moray Schools Youth Orchestra in the summer holidays. Without the music education I received I wouldn’t be studying music now.”

Just two of the many comments that show how valued the service in Moray is and the lasting impact that instructors like John and so many others can have on our young people.

The skills young people gain while learning to play an instrument are not restricted to music alone. They continue to benefit throughout their life. If the cycle of fee increases for music tuition continues, we will lose pupils and instructors. I worry that, by the time we all come round to realising the detrimental effect that this has had, it will be too late. JFK famously said:

“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”

We must ensure that young people in Moray, in Scotland and across the UK have the musical resources to give them the brightest possible future.

Apprenticeships and Skills Policy

David Amess Excerpts

Tuesday 8th January 2019 Westminster Hall

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Order. The closing speeches begin at 3.30 pm and there are five colleagues wishing to catch my eye, so I appeal to Members to share the time out, with about six or seven minutes each.

Care Crisis Review

David Amess Excerpts

Wednesday 5th September 2018 Westminster Hall

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Before we begin the debate, I alert colleagues to the fact that a Division is expected at 4.48 pm, at which point we shall adjourn for 15 minutes if there is one Division or 25 minutes if there is a second Division. We shall still have the full hour of the debate.

[Lucy Allan (Telford) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the findings of the Care Crisis Review.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David.

I take the opportunity to put on record my thanks to the Minister for his recent announcement about the new exploitation unit. I know that he will continue to work closely with the Home Office on the exploitation of vulnerable children, and I am extremely pleased with how well he understands his brief. When he has appeared before the Select Committee on Education, he has been passionate about his commitment to children in care. He shares my passion, I know, to do everything possible to support and strengthen families. That is why he has engaged with the findings of the care crisis review. I would like to build on that and ask the Minister to acknowledge the scale of the problem, with alarming numbers of children being taken from their families and placed in state care. I would also like him to acknowledge the apparent lack of a long-term strategy to address the problem.

Although money is never the whole solution to any problem, I urge the Minister to commit to funding early support for struggling families and to ensure that the funding is ring-fenced so that it is not eaten up by statutory crisis interventions. The care crisis review was facilitated by the excellent Family Rights Group, which does so much important work in this area, and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. It was undertaken in response to the unprecedented increase in the number of children being taken into care, as a way of finding a series of solutions to bring about change. It has come up with 20 solutions—I will not go through all the findings because the Minister is familiar with them, but I will highlight one or two that I urge him to take on board.

Over the last 10 years, in the wake of the tragic case of Baby P, there has been a dramatic and consistent increase in the numbers of children being taken into state care. The figures show something like a 151% increase in 10 years of children in child protection investigations, and 73,000 young people in care in 2017—those figures are higher for 2018, although the numbers are not yet out. That translates into 90 children a day being taken into care. That is not sustainable and it is not necessary. Often, taking children into care helps councils and social workers to be protected from any accusations of failing to act, but sometimes it is not necessary.

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[Lucy Allan]

I am very grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his comments and for echoing what I said about Edward Timpson’s contribution. He is correct about funding. I am not one who thinks the solution to a problem is just to throw money at it—never, never, never—but in this case, where local authorities do not have funding for early intervention, prevention and support for families, they will only be able to keep coming back to the Government and asking for more money for statutory services. There will be a cumulative effect. That will happen unless the Government step in and say, “Right, we’re going to ring-fence funding to ensure there is at least an attempt to provide adequate support, particularly where we can see a family is struggling.”

We know that if a crisis is not addressed it continues to escalate. We must be able to act. We must be able to say, “Okay, that’s no good.” People normally end up in court proceedings, where the judge says, “Ah yes, the mother needs to have therapy, she needs to go to counselling and there needs to be”—[Interruption.]

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

Order. There is a Division in the House. The sitting is suspended for 15 minutes or, if there is a second Division, for 25 minutes.

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[Lucy Allan]

Before the Divisions, I was talking about a situation where a family was in court proceedings and the judge told them to get counselling, but it was too late, because the timeline for the mother is not fitted to the timeline for the child and therefore the child is going into care. My point is that acting sooner is for the good of all, and particularly for the good of children, who need to be brought up in strong families.

Before I conclude, I want to say something about the role of social workers and the local authority. As we mentioned, the care crisis review refers to the risk-averse blame culture and the focus on correct processes rather than a collaborative problem-solving approach. We have to understand the difficult challenge social workers face. If a social worker has little else to offer a struggling family, of course they will be more likely to conclude that a child would be better off being removed, because they cannot take the risk of doing nothing.

As a Government, we cannot just sit back and say that these decisions must be made by the local authority, because that is a little bit too hands-off. I am not usually one to say that Government should do more, but we recognise that all social workers have a professional obligation to adhere to statutory requirements and guidelines and they simply do not have the flexibility that we imagine they do. They also have their own professional reputation to safeguard and that of their children’s services department. The local children’s services department has to fund statutory services, which speaks to the point about there being nothing left in the budget.

One important point, which I hope the Minister will take away, is that we cannot just say it is someone else’s problem. We need clarity from central Government. There are alternatives to care proceedings and some local authorities use them very effectively; we have to look at what works and encourage other local authorities to implement it. The care crisis review has come up with helpful options for change. It has specifically drawn attention to the need to tackle root causes and address the issues that children and families face on a cross-departmental basis. I am sure the Minister agrees that we should have a Children’s Minister in the Cabinet, because that cross-departmental approach is really important. The Minister has been working effectively with the Home Office on child sexual exploitation and I am grateful to see effective cross-departmental working on that issue; I know there is more of that to come under this Minister. I want to emphasise the point about ring-fencing funding for early help. We do not want to lose all the funding for children’s services to cover statutory interventions when other activities could support the families and help children to stay safely at home.

I know the Minister will have listened carefully and that he has already considered the conclusions of the care crisis review. What plans does he have to adopt any of the recommendations? Will he ask his officials to take a long-term, overarching, strategic approach to the problem? If we continue to take more children into care, the funding gap will increase. It is a sticking plaster, which will not solve anything in the long term. I know it is difficult for a Minister who is only in his post for a year or two—I hope this Minister will remain a great deal longer—to think long-term. If he implemented the strategic direction, which is currently lacking, that would be a tremendous legacy.

I believe Government have to be active in formulating direction, because there are too many legislative restrictions on local authorities. There is too much that they have to do, so they do not have the choice to operate in a more flexible manner. I know we all agree that no child should be in care if they can live safely at home, and if the Minister agrees with that, I know he will take action to make it an objective for Government. I thank everyone for taking part and the Minister for listening to me on this subject, which I have raised with him many times.

[Sir David Amess (in the Chair)]

I have to advise the House that the debate must finish at 6.1 pm.

Education and Local Services

David Amess Excerpts

Tuesday 27th June 2017 Commons Chamber

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Mr Deputy Speaker (Sir David Amess)]

Order. In order to accommodate the large number of colleagues who wish to speak, the time limit is being dropped to four minutes with immediate effect, although I will use some latitude for Members making their maiden speeches.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Amess Excerpts

Monday 20th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend is exactly right, and I congratulate him on the work that he does in this area. T-levels, our technical education reforms, our apprenticeship reforms and our strong backing of further education are exactly what we need to do to create the skills to make sure that people have the jobs and the skills that they need for their futures.

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

14. What recent representations she has received on the number of available apprenticeship places.

[The Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills (Robert Halfon)]

Apprenticeships are jobs, and availability is determined by employers offering such opportunities. Our ambition is to reach 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020, and to support the growth of apprenticeships across different sectors and regions.

[Sir David Amess]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in congratulating the Central Training Group’s Central Hairdressing Academy in Southend on its support of apprenticeships and its excellent results, and will he reflect on the view that trainers feel that a lot of pressure is put on children to stay on in the sixth form who might benefit from taking an apprenticeship?

[Robert Halfon]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. I congratulate the hairdressing academy on its support of apprenticeships. We now have 900,000 apprentices—the record highest number ever—and we have 784,000 starts. We are building the apprenticeship nation, and giving those young people a ladder of opportunity.

Education Funding: Southend

David Amess Excerpts

Tuesday 21st February 2017 Westminster Hall

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered future funding provision for education in Southend.

And now for something completely different, Mr Rosindell—education in Southend, and the impact that the new national funding formula would have there if it went ahead without any changes. I have never been in favour of officer-led local authorities. Councillors are elected; they form an administration and should give instructions to officers, who carry them out. I have never been in favour of civil servant-led Governments. The civil service in this country is wonderful, but Governments are elected and Ministers should be strong enough to tell civil servants what their policy is, be aware of political ramifications and make sure their directions are carried out. I am giving my right hon. Friend the Minister the benefit of the doubt. He and I have known one another a long time and I hold him in great regard; he will not take offence when I say that I do not want him just to read out the civil service brief and palm me off with a lot of nice old platitudes at the end of half an hour. Let there be no doubt: if the proposed changes go ahead I shall vote against the measure needed to bring them in—and we have a majority of only 11. I am not going to mess about on the issue.

In the years since I became an MP I have listened to so many rebrandings of schools that I am sick to death of hearing what we are to call them—academies, grant-maintained and all the rest. We keep coming up with new ideas, but in the end it is down to the leadership of headteachers. I just want all children to be given the best possible opportunity, and I want fairness in the system. Leadership is essential, and I am glad to tell the House that the leadership of schools in Southend is magnificent. Before I turn to the general thrust of my argument, I have a point to make gently to the Minister. I was in Parliament when the community charge was proposed and I do not for a moment regret my support for it. If it had been introduced in a certain way it would have been an enormous success, but unfortunately we listened to the civil service proposals at the time, no exemptions were allowed, and we all know what happened. Eventually the policy resulted in the removal from office of the greatest politician I have ever known. I do not want the new funding formula to end up like the community charge.

My right hon. Friend the Minister will have the same briefing that I have, telling him that the national funding formula is aimed at addressing the unfairness of similar schools and areas receiving different levels of funding, with little or no justification. I am told that it will distribute the majority of funding directly to schools, to ensure that every child with the same needs will receive the same funding regardless of where they live—all very worthwhile. Under the formula, funding will be divided and allocated into four notional blocks—schools, high needs, early years and the central school services block, which is due to be phased in from 2018-19.

A hard national funding formula will, I am told, apply from 2019-20 for each mainstream school’s budget. Its purpose is that there should be a national standard for funding, which will remove the haphazard multiple funding formula in every local authority area. In addition, notional budgets will be calculated for the schools block funding in 2018-19, according to the national formula, using national averages as a starting point, and will be aggregated and allocated to local authorities in line with the locally agreed formula. I am trying to save my right hon. Friend some time, so he need not repeat those things in his reply.

I am not here to support the National Union of Teachers. I am glad that it has a new general secretary; I had no time for the last one, who I will never forget hearing shouting through a loudhailer about accident and emergency unit closures, outside party conference—it was terrible leadership. I hope that the new post holder will provide better and more sensible leadership. However, I am not presenting an NUT brief—or a House of Commons Library brief; the latter are normally the fountain of all truth. I am presenting a brief from local residents, making local points. I should point out that Southend has a Conservative-controlled council under the excellent leadership of John Lamb. The education portfolio is with James Courtenay.

I want now to make the case for changes for Southend. The proposed national funding formula for schools would be likely to have a devastating impact on every school in Southend West. Initially, somewhat naively, I welcomed the NFF as a potential major improvement in the current funding situation, but the weightings and the lack of stress testing have produced shocking consequences. Southend is now one of only four local authorities in which every school will lose out under the new arrangements. That amounts to making it the 11th biggest loser of all local authorities, and nationally the 84th worst-affected constituency. Those figures were given to me in a briefing by Councillor James Courtenay.

The impact of the NFF on schools in my constituency was brought to my attention in December 2016 in a letter from Mr Badger, the chairman of the governing body of Southend High School for Boys, which, together with the other three in Southend, is one of the finest grammar schools in the country. He stated that the proposals would, “shockingly”, see funding reduced by a further 2%. For that school and many others in the borough the proposed changes are bewildering. Southend High School for Boys was recently rated outstanding in every category of its last Ofsted inspection, and was ranked 67th in national key stage 4 secondary school performance for 2016. Moreover, it has demonstrated prudence in budgeting and expenditure, and was even cited in the White Paper “Educational excellence everywhere” last March as a model case study of an efficient school.

While the aim of the national funding formula is, so we are told, to address the unfairness of similar schools and localities receiving different levels of funding through the setting of a mainstream school budget nationally, it fails properly to recognise the differing needs of each school’s cash-per-pupil funding. It will hinder rather than help schools in the area that I and my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) represent. He may, if he catches your eye, Mr Rosindell, speak about the schools in his constituency.

Illustrative figures suggest that if the hard formula for 2019-20 were to be introduced now, without any transitional protections, schools in my constituency such as Chase High School—which was prayed in aid as a centre of excellence when it was visited by Baroness Morris years ago—would face a £173 reduction in per-pupil funding. That would be a total cash loss of £163,000. Perhaps I may remind the Minister about Belfairs Academy, a wonderful school, which he opened—so he has seen how good it is at first hand. That school would lose £147 per pupil in funding, with a total cash loss of £168,000. Westcliff High School for Girls, where one of my children went, would lose £133 in cash per pupil funding, with a total cash loss of £109,000.

Moreover, even with the NFF 3% floor, schools in my constituency will not see a tangible funding increase for many years to come. Westcliff High School for Girls is set to lose 5.6% of its budget; with the floor in place, that will be reduced to a loss of 2.9% over two years. That school will not receive a further increase in its funding until the difference between the 5.5% and the 2.9% has been reduced through increases to the school’s allocation in the education budget. In short, if the school receives a 1% addition to its funding, there will be no improvement to its cash funding for about five years, which does not paint a rosy picture of fairness.

Primary schools in the area that I represent will also be hit hard. According to Darren Woollard, who is an excellent headteacher and the chairman of Southend Primary Headteachers’ Association, reductions in funding will seriously undermine vulnerable learners who need help the most. Furthermore, the NFF’s funding cuts to early years provision and the impending 30 years will have a major impact on capacity across the borough. I hope my right hon. Friend the Minister will not mind if he has slightly less than 15 minutes to respond; I would like my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East to catch your eye, Mr Rosindell.

In essence, the cuts to funding will affect the quality of education and opportunity for pupils from an early age. The reduction in funding is likely to spark a downward spiral for education in the area that I represent, raising the risk of a recruitment crisis in the teaching profession and leading to the closure of schools due to the financial implications of the funding formula—something the Government would certainly not want. On average, £5,000 per pupil is needed to run a secondary school and £4,000 per pupil is needed for a primary school. Where I was brought up, in the east end of London, we did not spend those huge amounts of money on education. We had 56 pupils in a class, and we all managed to spell, write, read and all of that, but times have changed. I accept that all schools now think that the money that they are given is crucial to the quality of their education provision, not only across the country but in Southend in particular.

The NFF’s implementation in Southend will mean that seven secondary schools and 19 primary schools will no longer be financially viable and will ultimately have to close. Southend High School for Boys, Belfairs Academy, Westcliff High School for Boys and Westcliff High School for Girls, which are all academically wonderful schools, will all be needlessly mutilated by the funding formula. The Westborough School, which is a wonderful school in the area I represent under the marvellous leadership of Jenny Davies—it is a tragedy that she will retire later this year—is in a ward with a literacy rating of 2, which classifies it as being in the top 20% for educational need in the country. If the NFF is put in place in its current form, it is likely that that need will substantially increase. Some 23% of the population are 16-plus and have no qualifications in the area that I represent, which also has a total literacy index score of 103, which is above the rate in England and indicates literacy vulnerability.

In many ways, the NFF’s effect on schools in Southend has the potential to raise unemployment, poverty and deprivation in the longer term—especially when the population is projected to increase to approximately 200,000 by 2027. Distortions in the NFF’s calculations for Southend have been highlighted by headteachers in my constituency. Dr Paul Hayman, the wonderful headteacher of Westcliff High School for Girls, has highlighted the NFF’s lack of transparency in not showing the values for area cost adjustment ratios. He cites the fact that the current basic funding unit for a pupil in years 7 to 11 at Westcliff High School for Girls is £4,225, which will reduce to £3,984. Many inner-London schools are still set to be allocated £7,000 per pupil in London, which is a difference of £2,298 per pupil and opens up the question of how that can be justified. I say, as a Londoner myself, that that is just not fair.

Of course, one may claim that school budgets in Southend have been protected in recent years, and that the NFF will redress that balance. However, schools in the area that I represent have tightened their belts over the past seven years by increasing class sizes, reducing administration costs, reducing spending on books, computers and resources and limiting the number of courses offered to GCSE and A-level students. Why should there be more financial affliction for schools in the area that I represent due to this rigid proposed formula?

I end with some thoughts and a solution for my right hon. Friend the Minister. With the consultation closing, as I understand it, on 22 March, I urge the Government to increase basic per-pupil funding. Grammar schools are currently campaigning for basic per-pupil funding of £4,800, and many headteachers in the area that I represent support that. Furthermore, it would be wise if the Government presented an area cost adjustment that was—to use that awful expression—fit for purpose and represented the demographic needs of Southend. Most importantly, however, the Government should introduce a national minimum level of funding per pupil without enlarging the overall schools budget. We do not need hordes of civil servants to advise the Government on that matter; the hon. Member for Southend West is advising the Government to do that.

Although the Government have emphasised the 3% floor in funding drops, along with transitional arrangements in the interim before the hard formula is introduced in 2019, national minimum funding per pupil would guarantee certainty in safeguarding the financial provision of funding per pupil for all schools in Southend, and it would not harm or lead to the closure of schools that have an excellent academic record. I hope my right hon. Friend the Minister will not only have listened politely to what I have said but will actually take notice of the representations that I have made and that my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East is about to make.

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[The Minister for School Standards (Mr Nick Gibb)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Sir David Amess) on securing this important debate. I am grateful for this timely opportunity to discuss the details of the proposals for introducing a new national funding formula. I have known my hon. Friend for as many years as he has known me, and I assure him that I do not intend to palm him off with fluffy platitudes.

We are now more than halfway through the consultation process on these proposals, and we have heard views from across the school sector and from all parts of the country. Throughout the consultation period, we are considering all representations from local authorities, teachers, governors, parents and hon. Members in this House. We are listening carefully so that we can ensure that the final national funding formula is the right one.

Many Governments have avoided introducing a national funding formula. We have grasped the nettle. It could be argued that in a time of fiscal restraint, we should have avoided introducing a national funding formula, but we think it is right to introduce such a formula and are proceeding with the consultation with the intention of introducing that formula. It is an open and transparent consultation, which is why it includes illustrative allocations for every school and local authority in England, calculated on the basis of figures for 2016-17, to help schools and others to understand the impact of the proposals. Those allocations are only illustrative.

The new formula will apply, as my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West said, in 2018-19 on the basis of a soft formula, which means that the local school forum can alter the allocations within the funding envelope for Southend. We have already announced that for 2017-18, no local authority will see any fall in its funding levels.

We believe that what we are proposing achieves the best balance between the different elements of the formula—between the core funding for every pupil and the extra funding for those with additional needs, and between the funding that relates to pupils’ characteristics and the funding that supports schools to meet their fixed costs. Those are complex trade-offs, which is why we are consulting for a full three months on the proposals.

The single biggest element of the national funding formula will be a basic amount that every pupil attracts to the school. That will account for around three quarters of the total schools block—about £23 billion of the total £40 billion. We are clear that significant funding should be directed through the formula to children from disadvantaged backgrounds who face entrenched barriers to their education. Schools that are educating those children should receive extra resources, so that they can support those children to do as well as their peers. We propose to spend more through the formula than is currently spent on pupils who start school with low prior attainment compared to their peers, so that they can get the extra support they need to catch up.

Overall, we want to maximise the amount of funding spent on factors that relate directly to pupils’ so-called characteristics. Our proposed lump sum of £110,000 per school, regardless of its size, is just below the current national average if we aggregate the 150 local formulae in the country. It is significantly below the sum that Southend uses locally, but we still believe that the lump sum is an important element of the formula. Our proposals recognise that all schools need a fixed element of funding that does not vary with pupil numbers and characteristics, to provide a level of certainty. One reason—it is not the only one—why Southend schools face these percentage reductions is the difference in the lump sum figure.

The decisions we have made in balancing the formula will certainly have different effects across the country, depending on how they differ from decisions that local authorities have taken on their local formula. The anomaly is in the local formulae, rather than in what we are proposing in the national formula. In the case of Southend, the current local formula uses a higher basic per-pupil amount than the figure we propose in the national funding formula. Southend also concentrates funding for deprivation more narrowly. In the national funding formula, we want to spread deprivation funding more broadly and further up the income spectrum, so that we can target additional funding to pupils who are not necessarily eligible for free school meals but whose background may still create a barrier to their education.

We know that some areas and schools will disagree with the balance we have struck in the proposals. That will be the case particularly in areas where the proposed national funding formula will mean a lower level of funding than the current baseline for 2016-17, such as in Southend. We are keen to hear views on whether we have got that balance right and welcome any additional evidence through the consultation. We will look to change our proposals where the evidence shows clearly that the balance needs to shift.

I took on board the advice from my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West, which will trump any advice we receive from experts across the country. He argued for a de minimis funding level of £4,800 per secondary school pupil, and his advice will be considered as part of the consultation process.

While there will be different views about the precise balance of the factors, there is certainly a consensus, as my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) confirmed, that we need a national funding formula and a fair funding system that gets resources to where they are needed most. No matter where children live and whatever their background, prior attainment or ability, they should have access to an excellent education. We want all children to be able to reach their full potential and to succeed in adult life. That ambition can be achieved only if we have a fair approach to funding, whereby funding relates directly to children’s needs and the schools they attend.

Under our proposals, the funding system will be clear, simple and transparent for the first time. Similar schools will be treated in the same way right across the country. We will no longer see the wide range in funding levels that we see now, and it will no longer be the case that the amount a child attracts to their school depends on where they live or their school’s location. Our proposals will end the postcode lottery in school funding and extend opportunity across the country.

I want to give my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West a minute to conclude at the end if he wishes; if not, I will plough on. I am hugely grateful to have had this opportunity to look closely at how we can ensure fairer funding for our schools. It has been very useful to hear from my hon. Friends for Southend West and for Rochford and Southend East and to take time to consider the important issues that they both raised.

[Sir David Amess]

The thing that slightly disturbs me in what my hon. Friend the Minister slipped in is that it seems as if he is blaming the local authority for the disparity in the figures.

[Mr Gibb]

I am making the point that we are aggregating 150 separate local formulae into one national funding formula, which will inevitably mean there will be changes. That is particularly inevitable, mathematically, if we then illustrate the new formula on the basis of existing figures. However, I understand my hon. Friend’s points. As I said, these are illustrative figures and will have no impact on 2017-18. The overall level of school funding, at £40 billion, is the maximum amount we have ever spent on schools. It will rise in the years ahead. Schools will receive more money if their pupil numbers go up and if their pupil characteristics change. We expect school funding to be at about £42 billion by 2019-20. That does not mean to say that the formula will not have the impact we are illustrating; they are illustrative figures only.

Question put and agreed to.

Oral Answers to Questions

David Amess Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gibb]

Academies face much greater financial scrutiny than local authority schools. They have to produce annual audited accounts, whereas local authority schools do not, and the Education Funding Agency scrutinises closely, on a quarterly basis, the funding and expenditure of academies and multi-academy trusts.

[Sir David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

22. I appreciate the challenge that my right hon. Friend faces in finding a fairer funding formula and I appreciate that this is a consultation period, but does he realise that if these changes were to go ahead as suggested, every school in Southend would lose out? I certainly cannot support that.

[Mr Gibb]

The new funding formula is designed to ensure that funding is properly matched to need. It uses up-to-date data so that children who face entrenched barriers to their education receive the teaching and support that they need. I recognise that my hon. Friend will be disappointed by the impact of the proposals, on the basis of illustrative figures for the 2016-17 year for schools in Southend. As he knows, we are conducting a full consultation on the formula’s details, and I know he will continue to make his views known through that process.