Schools: National Funding Formula

Jeremy Quin Excerpts

Thursday 14th September 2017 Commons Chamber

[Justine Greening]

My hon. Friend will welcome the fact that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has made it clear that the amount of funding we are now putting into our schools does protect per-pupil funding in real terms. He is right to mention school places, as the estimate is that between 2015 and 2020 we will need an additional 600,000 extra school places, which is why we are investing so much in building new schools and expanding existing schools. I can assure him that we are very clear about where those pressures are, and we will seek to work with communities, MPs and local authorities to make sure that good school places are available for every child in our country.

[Jeremy Quin (Horsham) (Con)]

This package of changes without doubt represents an improvement for West Sussex schools and I welcome it. Will my right hon. Friend confirm that she has been able to fund this improvement while still supporting the creation of new schools where they have been announced?

[Justine Greening]

Indeed, we have a very strong pipeline of schools under construction as well as ones that have been agreed, which will go ahead. As I have set out, we need to make sure that we keep ahead of the need for more places in the coming years, which is why we will be having more free schools and working with existing schools to see them expand, too.