Oral Answers to Questions

Rushanara Ali Excerpts

Monday 21st November 2011 Commons Chamber

[Michael Gove]

The hon. Gentleman is, indeed, very good at arithmetic; if only he had been in the Treasury over the last five years when so much money was wasted by a spendthrift and profligate team of Ministers who had not a care for prudence, economy or the next generation. If he believes in a plan for jobs and growth, he should support the deregulation measures that will be in the autumn statement; he should support the Chancellor in making sure our economy is competitive again, and he should support the education reforms we are introducing, which will ensure that our children go on to become the best educated and the most enterprising in the world.

[Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)]

4. What estimate he has made of the change in average expenditure on schools in real terms per student following the introduction of the pupil premium.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

Average funding per pupil for 2011-12 has been kept cash-flat at £5,082 per pupil, plus the pupil premium. The pupil premium totals £625 million this year, rising to £2.5 billion in 2014-15. It provides £488 for each free-school-meal child and looked-after child. In addition, the children of families in the armed services will attract £200.

[Rushanara Ali]

I thank the Minister for her answer. According to recent research, a London child living in one of the country’s most deprived neighbourhoods in 2010 had a 75% chance of finishing above the bottom quarter of the national results at age 16. Without the London weighting attached to the pupil premium, how will the Government ensure these high standards are maintained in constituencies such as mine?

[Sarah Teather]

I absolutely agree that the figures for attainment for children on free school meals and looked-after children are woefully inadequate at present. That is why we have introduced the pupil premium. I should also say that in the hon. Lady’s constituency per-pupil funding is higher than almost anywhere else in the country. A substantial amount of money is already going into her constituency, therefore, as well as a significant amount of money through the pupil premium, which will rise to £2.5 billion nationally by the end of the spending review period. I would therefore encourage her to ask her schools how they are spending that money, and I would be very pleased to hear the detail of some of the best practice being followed by them.