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11 Apr 2003 : Column 561—continued
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): Order.
12.55 pm
Mr. Chris Pond (Gravesham): The whole House will understand, of course, why the hon. Member for East Devon (Mr. Swire) and other Opposition Members feel it necessary to use a speech during a debate on education to seek to undermine the credibility of the Government's economic policy and to seek to undermine the forecasts of the Chancellor. Their purpose is twofold. First, they know, as we know, that this Government's economic competence is their greatest strength. Secondly, they know, as we know, that the forecasts, which are bound to change—that is their purpose, as world circumstances change—have nevertheless been confirmed by many independent forecasters. Indeed, their predictions are within the range for most independent forecasters. The Institute for Fiscal Studies, before the Budget, said that the Chancellor is justified in suggesting that his borrowing forecasts were within the Government's tough fiscal rules.
The main theme of the Budget was the partnership between economic strength and social justice, with which Opposition Members find it very difficult, even now, to get to grips. We were told during the 1980s and the part of the 1990s during which the Conservatives were in office that one can have either economic strength or social justice but never the two together. What we have proved, Budget in, Budget out, is that social justice is the main driving force of economic strength. We have had sneering from Opposition Members about some of the real improvements that we have seen in the living standards not only of the poorest but of a large proportion of families, through the new tax credits—
Mr. Bill Wiggin (Leominster): Will the hon. Gentleman give way?
Mr. Pond: No, we are limited on time.
The over-80s will now get the extra £100 in the winter fuel payment, year in, year out, throughout this Parliament, and pensioners will no longer be required to pay accommodation costs while in hospital. It is very difficult for Conservative Members to understand why all those things are important to people. Those things have been facilitated by the economic strength produced by a Chancellor who insisted on making tough decisions in the early years to eliminate debt and to enable us to have the underlying strength in the economy that can create social justice.
We know that, under previous circumstances, inequality was one of the major weaknesses of the British economy. At the sharp end, the number of children living in poverty trebled under Conservative Governments, and they were failed by an education policy that left half of 11-year-olds failing to meet basic standards in numeracy and literacy. I have been astonished to hear Opposition Members during this debate refer to the fact that there are children today who do not meet those basic standards: there are such children, but the proportion is about half what it was when this Government took over. We are determined, through investment and driving up standards, to make sure that those children get the best opportunity in life and that we reduce that proportion further.
I therefore welcome the fact that as well as maintaining our commitments in military terms, under the current difficult circumstances, and making sure that
we are able to put aside resources to fight the war on terrorism, the Budget confirms that, through the new tax credits and extra help to pensioners, we are able to ensure a boost in living standards for the poorest households, that we will give additional help to business in these current difficult world circumstances, and, furthermore, that we will continue investment in the public services. Education spending alone will rise from 4.6 per cent. of gross domestic product at the beginning of the decade to 5.6 per cent. by the middle of the decade.My local education authority in Kent will see a 6.6 per cent. cash increase in its education assessment. I should explain that that assessment takes account of the fact that Kent makes relatively poor provision at present for the under-fives. Compared with a target provision of 85 per cent. of the group, Kent makes provision for only 32 per cent. The cash increase overall per pupil is 3.2 per cent. That is less than many of us lobbied for; nevertheless, it is an above-inflation increase in the education settlement.
I hope that Kent county council will swiftly move towards the 85 per cent. target. I am pleased that nine new nurseries were announced last autumn, but I am distressed that the council now proposes to close one nursery in my constituency. I am looking forward to a clarification of what is happening to those extra resources; Kent county council is being funded as if it were making provision for 85 per cent. of under-fives when it is educating only 32 per cent. I am pleased that the funding is available, but I want to make sure that it goes to schools.
I am concerned that Kent county council is telling everyone—schools, parents and the public at large—that the settlement that it has received, which is above inflation, is insufficient to meet its needs. It has told schools in my constituency to batten down the hatches and prepare for cuts. I am concerned also that part of the resources available to Kent county council—some £690,000, exactly the same amount as the budget for learning support units for secondary schools—is spent, effectively, on a press office, telling people that Kent county council cannot manage because people's money has gone north. We have heard that same mantra from Opposition Members this morning. I should stress that we are talking about an education settlement that is above inflation. I hope that Education Ministers will look carefully at Kent county council's budget to see how much funding is going directly to schools, how much is retained by the LEA and how the overall budget for Kent is being distributed to schools of different types in different parts of the county.
In circumstances in which the county council is receiving funding in excess of inflation, why is Kent county council proposing the closure of schools such as Northcourt primary school in my constituency? That comes at a time when we are expecting record increases in population growth, and in the population of children, in my part of Kent, partly as a result of the developments referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham (Jon Cruddas) earlier this morning—the Thames gateway and Kent Thameside.
Northcourt primary school was described by Ofsted as being at the heart of the local community, a community with disproportionately high levels of deprivation and disadvantage and a particularly high
proportion of children from traveller backgrounds. Ofsted found that the school's standards were not acceptable—none of us would tolerate that for our children—but that it had made improvements in key areas, despite a lack of leadership resulting from the fact that the head teacher had been on sick leave since last September.Ofsted also acknowledged the commitment of staff, the governing bodies and parents to the school, and I echo that tribute to them this morning. I should like to pass a message to Education Ministers: such schools, which are at the heart of local communities, are essential to ensure that we improve standards. Schools must be part of their communities and be able to address the particular needs of the children in those communities. It is short-sighted for an education authority such as Kent to propose to close a school in the current circumstances. Rather than take that route, we should invest in our schools and make sure that we improve standards, rather than close schools.
One of the challenges facing schools throughout the country is, of course, that of more difficult and disruptive pupils. Another of my local schools, which may be required to take on many of the children from Northcourt primary school if it closes, had, until recently, a highly effective special unit for disruptive pupils. I am sorry to say that that was closed last year, and Kent county council has been unable to find the funds to keep such units open or to make provision across the borough for those pupils, as I have been urging it to do. One of the major reasons given for people leaving the teaching profession is the challenge that they face from disruptive behaviour in schools.
An additional challenge in our schools is loutish, antisocial behaviour on or near school premises, very often from people who are not members of the school community. Groups of people hang around school gates, intimidating children as they go in and out, and people bang on school windows during lessons. On one occasion, a head teacher had to lock parents and staff inside the building because of the threatening behaviour of individuals in the school grounds. All that has become a major problem in my constituency, and I ask Education Ministers to liase with the Home Secretary to find out how that can be addressed with the proposed antisocial behaviour measures.
Finally, I welcome the Chancellor's statement that the pay review bodies will be asked to look more carefully at the additional cost of employing people in the public sector in London and the south-east. We need to ensure that, while increasing the number of people employed, they are properly rewarded, which is particularly important in constituencies such as mine.
1.6 pm
Mr. John Horam (Orpington): I wish to say a few words about the expenditure side of the Budget equation because there is no doubt, as I am sure all hon. Members would all agree, that the Government have raised vast amounts of money from the long-suffering taxpayer and continue to do so. In those circumstances, it is imperative that they spend the money that is raised wisely—but, sadly, as we know, people do not think that they are spending it wisely. In fact, most people think that the Government are wasting a great deal of money. Opinion polls suggest that as many as three quarters of people think so.
Such is the cynicism about politics, with which we are all rather familiar, people might think that any politician would waste a great deal of the money raised from the taxpayer, but the fact is that that is not so. I looked at another opinion poll the other day that examined spending by local authorities. When asked, "Which party would spend your money most carefully?", 37 per cent. said that the Conservative party would spend their money the most carefully, and 19 per cent. said that the Liberal Democrats would do so. So Conservatives are reckoned to spend taxpayers' money twice as carefully as Liberal Democrats.
What was the percentage for the Labour party? Two per cent., so people clearly think that the Labour party does not spend their money carefully at local government level. We know from the scandals in numerous Labour-controlled local authorities in the past few years—not least in the Deputy Prime Minister's constituency—that Labour councils are notorious for their profligacy with public funds.
As my hon. Friend the Member for Sevenoaks (Mr. Fallon) said, the fact is that much of the blizzard of public expenditure that is pouring from the Government, paid for by the taxpayer, is ending up on the ridiculous jobs in the back pages of The Guardian, and they do not know how to spend the money. That is a tragedy, because it is immoral to raise money, particularly from low-income people, and then spend it so poorly on jobs for the boys, or jobs for the girls, advertised in the back pages of The Guardian.
That is also bad because the Government are missing a major opportunity to improve our public services, and I want to take an example from the Home Office spending plans. The fact is that, as we all know—the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Pond) referred to this—we have considerable problems with antisocial behaviour. I entirely agree with what he said on that point. It is a real worry. As we know, only this Tuesday the Government introduced a Bill on the subject. However, I do not believe that more and more laws are the answer to dealing with the problem. Equally, it is not only a matter of funding. For example, for some time my local council has had a community safety manager. She recently went to Boston and spent some time examining the system there, which is predicated on the well-known idea of zero tolerance. Boston has an effective police force and all sections of the community are involved in it. It is backed by the local council. That force has achieved astonishing results in reducing crime and antisocial behaviour, with which we are so concerned. That is a tribute to the Boston police force. The community safety manager has returned and she is contributing to local policy in my borough.
However, the number of police officers is a matter of consequence in trying to tackle these problems. Despite the blizzard of public spending, the number of police in the London borough of Bromley has fallen from 471 in December 1996 to 427 at the latest count. I took up the matter with the Home Secretary during Home Office questions recently. The right hon. Gentleman was good enough to say that he would take the matter up with Sir
John Stevens, the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, to ascertain why Bromley had done so badly. That was a few weeks ago.
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