MP Fiona Bruce raise school funding shortages in Commons

Speaking in the Commons she said: “Before the debate I wrote to every primary and high school headteacher in my constituency.

“All seven senior school headteachers, whether in free schools, academies or multi-academy trusts, sent a collective response stating they cannot remember morale being so low, the main reason being the lack of funding into schools, and that standards—high in Cheshire East—will be adversely affected.

“The heads asked me to bring four key messages to Parliament. I will quote their words: ‘The Government must stop misleading the country by stating that record amounts are being spent on education when, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, since 2010, in Cheshire East the amount spent per child has fallen in real terms by eight per cent’.

“Secondly, they say: ‘The Government must commit to an index-linked approach to the national formula so all schools are able to deal with changes that are outside of their control, such as increased employer NI and pension contributions, as well as underfunded pay awards and other cost pressures’.

“They say that there has been a 10 per cent rise in staff costs in our schools since 2017 alone.

“Their third and fourth points are: ‘The Government must demonstrate that every school in the country will gain enough funding via the Age Weighted Pupil Unit to run a school regardless of the characteristics of its pupils.

“The Government should provide a long-term commitment to educational funding in a similar manner to the National Health Service.”

“A major issue, say the heads, is that schools go from year to year with no annual Government statements or decisions about school funding, so there is no long-term planning.

“That makes it impossible for heads to plan or budget for the future. I have known most of them for many years and, dedicated as they are, it is remarkable that they carry on under the relentless pressure they experience year on year.”