Oral Answers to Questions

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2018 Commons Chamber

[Helen Goodman (Bishop Auckland) (Lab)]

2. What assessment he has made of the financial effect of the new national funding formula on schools in England.

[Judith Cummins (Bradford South) (Lab)]

13. What assessment he has made of the financial effect of the new national funding formula on schools in England.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Damian Hinds)]

The new national funding formula means that funding will finally be distributed based on the needs and characteristics of every school in the country. It is supported by an additional £1.3 billion, which means that we will maintain school and high-needs funding in real terms per pupil for the next two years.

[Damian Hinds]

Of course, the formula rightly takes account of deprivation in the way that the hon. Lady mentions. If the funding formula were implemented in full in the Bishop Auckland constituency, based on the 2017-18 pupil data, funding would increase by £981,000 or 1.9%.

[Judith Cummins]

In every single school that I have visited in Bradford South since becoming an MP, the head has raised with me major concerns about funding. Will the Secretary of State confirm that, despite the £1.3 billion that his predecessor announced last July, school funding will still have fallen in real terms by 2020 for the first time in a generation?

[Damian Hinds]

No. On the same basis as I answered the hon. Member for Bishop Auckland (Helen Goodman), if the formula were implemented fully in the Bradford South constituency, it would mean an increase of 1.6% or £1.3 million. Across the system, per pupil real-terms funding is being maintained.