Business of the House

Neil Carmichael Excerpts

Thursday 2nd February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

We are all better informed. It is not clear whether the hon. Lady has yet received or read the letter; it seems as though she is not in receipt of it and has not read it, but there we go.

[Neil Carmichael (Stroud) (Con)]

There are two great mysteries in my constituency. First, do we have a giant cat with yellow eyes in Woodchester? Secondly, why are Gloucestershire’s schools suffering so badly under section 251 in the allocation of administrative grants and moving on to become academies? I would like a debate on the cat and school funding, but particularly on school funding, because the subject is important, and we need to encourage the academy programme.

[Sir George Young]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend. I think that I am right in saying that he has raised the issue with me before. There is a problem in his county about the way in which the so-called LACSEG—local authority central spend equivalent grant—formula works. His academies get the same per-pupil funding as local education authority schools, but the funds that the local authority used to dispense are dispensed to the academies in a formula that has disadvantaged his county. He will be pleased to know that there is a review to see whether we can move to a fairer system of funding. I hope that his county will find that that is an answer to the problem that he raises.