School Funding

Edward Argar Excerpts

Thursday 5th November 2015 Westminster Hall

[Edward Argar (Charnwood) (Con)]

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

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Beverley and Holderness (Graham Stuart) and the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) on securing the debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend also on his leadership of the campaign, and on what it has achieved thus far. The receptiveness of the Secretary of State for Education to the case that he puts is due not only to her well known fairness and reasonableness, but to the vigour and eloquence with which he has pursued the cause, even if it has turned him grey. It is particularly good to see the Minister here to respond to the debate, as he is not only my hon. Friend but an old friend of mine who will, I know, display in this matter as in others his typical commitment to doing the right thing.

As my hon. Friend the Member for The Cotswolds (Geoffrey Clifton-Brown), among others, has said, the debate is about fairness. We all acknowledge the overall financial challenges that the country faces; today, we ask for fairer distribution of the money available—a point made with typical eloquence by my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (James Cartlidge). My county of Leicestershire—to continue a refrain we have heard from many hon. Members about their own counties—does particularly badly under the current arrangements. It secures about 10% less per pupil than the national average, which comes to hundreds of pounds. Despite that, Leicestershire schools and the dedicated teachers who work in them—I say that as the son of two teachers, who are now retired—do a first-class job for the children of the county and my constituency. They get good results, they provide a good education, and they give young people the good start in life that is vital. However, they do that under financial pressure and that makes their job much harder.

I recently visited the excellent Thrussington school in my constituency. Like many other small village schools it finds it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to meet the demand for places for local children. That is not just because it is such a good school, but because demographic change and increasing numbers of people living in the area make it physically impossible. Consequently many local children must travel some distance to school. That is not fair to the staff who are coping with a full school, or to the parents who cope with additional costs and hassle in their daily lives getting around and getting to work. It is certainly not fair to the children. When I visit the Latimer school in Anstey tomorrow, I dare say I will hear a similar story.

I welcome the Minister’s comments, in an intervention, that there have been two funding uplifts under this and the previous Government, but that highlights the fact that the time for fixes is past and that we need a proper formula overhaul that will deliver a sustainable long-term solution for fairer funding in the coming decade. My hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk) noted the need for a timescale for dealing with the issue, and he is right. I suggest, as have many hon. Members, that the time is now.

The Government have done a lot to help make funding fairer. Like other hon. Members, I am grateful to the Minister and the Secretary of State for their part in that, but, speaking for my constituents, there is more to do. Let us seize the opportunity to deliver fairness and ensure that my constituents get the best start in life, as they deserve.