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Mr. Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley): Last year, Northumberland's education authority had some trouble: I am keeping my fingers crossed that my right hon. Friend's statement will put all that right. On funding for free school meals, he may be aware that some of my hon. Friends and I tabled an early-day motion pointing out that people receiving working
families tax credit do not qualify for free school meals, even though they are below the £13,000 threshold. That is giving with one hand and taking away with the other.
Mr. Clarke: I have seen the early-day motion that my hon. Friend and others tabled. I am considering its terms carefully to ascertain how we can deal with his points. More generally, I hope that Northumberland can work with schools in the county to tackle the issues effectively.
Mr. David Laws (Yeovil): I thank the Secretary of State for taking the time to see a cross-party delegation from Somerset a couple of months ago to discuss the subject that the statement covers. Although I accept his earlier comments that we must consider the detail before leaping to judgment, he will recall that Somerset local education authority said that it needed an increase of 6 per cent. not 4 per cent. next year to deal with cost pressures and accumulated deficit. Will his statement therefore disappoint the LEA or does it contain something that I am missing?
Mr. Clarke: My lengthy experience of the hard wheel of politics shows that statements usually disappoint local authorities and I confidently expect representations about disappointment. However, Somerset will receive targeted transitional grant, which will help with some issues. I am also acutely aware of some of the sharp party political antagonisms in Somerset about the approach to such matters. The LEA will want to work closely with schools to deal with them.
Ms Oona King (Bethnal Green and Bow): I thank my right hon. Friend for a comprehensive statement. There is no doubt that the average school whose budget was affected by the 3.4 per cent. figure will be vastly assisted by the measures announced. Indeed, all schools will be helped, but some were hit harder than others. Those in Tower Hamlets have average cost increases of 12 per cent., despite the LEA passporting more than 100 per cent. Will my right hon. Friend assure us that any schools that continue to face serious budget pressures after the measures have been implemented will receive further help with funding so that we can continue to drive up standards, which have seen Tower Hamlets register the greatest educational achievement in the country?
Mr. Clarke: I join in with my hon. Friend's tribute to the tremendous achievements of the local authority in Tower Hamlets. We met a delegation to discuss the very points that she raised. As I said in the statement, resources—in the form of grant or loan—are available to address matters in schools in Tower Hamlets, but on condition that the local authority works with schools to deal with the financial issues in the appropriate way. I know that Tower Hamlets authority will work constructively on that agenda, but the qualification is important. The extra resources are available on the basis of the LEA working properly with schools to improve financial management and deal with problems.
Richard Ottaway (Croydon, South): Given the shambles in education funding in Croydon this year, the
Secretary of State will be interested to know that I managed to obtain a copy of an internal document from Labour-controlled Croydon council. It estimates that underfunding this year is £7.5 million and that an extra £8.5 million is needed next year after wiping out the reserves this year to pay the deficit. Will he confirm that his encouraging but complex statement means that Croydon will have the extra £16 million that it needs to make up the shortfall this year?
Mr. Clarke: I want to make two comments in response to that. First, the statement is complex and I hope that all political and other colleagues in Croydon will examine the precise implications for Croydon before reaching a judgment about the way in which to proceed. Of course, I acknowledge that there were difficult problems in Croydon this year; the hon. Gentleman raised them specifically. I hope that the announcement will enable them to be tackled effectively.
Secondly, I shall not simply take a figure that has been generated from an internal working document in a local authority and say, "Aha, all is as it should be." We should have a discussion and dialogue and I hope that that will take place—although I cannot guarantee it, given the hon. Gentleman's role—in a non-partisan way and in a spirit of doing our best for schools in Croydon.
Judy Mallaber (Amber Valley): Although I do not want cuts in other local authorities or schools, will my right hon. Friend assure me that the overall impact of the measures will not perpetuate the unfairness whereby pupils in authorities such as Hertfordshire and Hampshire get so much more money spent on them than pupils in equivalent schools in authorities such as Derbyshire? Will he continue to try to redress that balance?
Mr. Clarke: My hon. Friend makes an important, powerful and true point. I am glad to be able to say that the variation between a floor for LEAs of 5 per cent. and a ceiling of at least 6.5 per cent. shows that progress to try to deal with some of her points continues, at least in education.
Mr. Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire): Does the Secretary of State accept that the acid test is the accuracy and validity of his estimate of cost pressures on schools? He must recall that Philip Hodgson, chair of Cambridgeshire schools forum, wrote to him on 17 July and set out in detail the anticipated cost pressures. He said that the unavoidable pressures would mean an increase of 10 per cent. in the schools budget elements of Cambridgeshire's education formula spending. How does the right hon. Gentleman reconcile 3.4 per cent with the 10 per cent. pressures on the LEA? Even if Cambridgeshire is on the ceiling of 6.5 per cent.—I hope that it is—there will be a further funding gap in the coming year to add to this year's gap.
Mr. Clarke: To be frank, there are a series of issues about Cambridgeshire's relationship with its schools that need to be examined in promoting good management. Staff salaries in some schools in Cambridgeshire take more than 90 per cent. of a school's budget. That is not the best position and the LEA needs to examine it.
Let us consider the assessment in the letter in July to which the hon. Gentleman refers. What assumptions does it make about teachers' pay and so on? I do not believe that my correspondent was in a position to know the detail at that point. As I said earlier, I hope that people will consider what we have said carefully, assess what it means for their authority and schools, and form their judgment.
The figure of 3.4 per cent. was reached after substantial discussion, including with local government representatives and head teacher associations, to try to get a shared view of appropriate average inflation. As the hon. Gentleman said, it is an average and there is therefore variation.
Jonathan Shaw (Chatham and Aylesford): I thank the Minister for School Standards for meeting a delegation from my constituency to discuss the schools budget earlier this year. I agree that Kent county council has discussed schools funding in an unhelpful way, scaremongering among head teachers. However, I agree with my right hon. Friend that we should enter into dialogue and discussion sensibly and maturely. Will he confirm that Kent and the Medway towns are among the authorities that receive additional support?
Mr. Clarke: After being advised by my hon. Friend the Minister for School Standards, I can confirm that Kent and Medway are on the list of authorities that will receive targeted transitional support. More important, I want to echo the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Chatham and Aylesford (Jonathan Shaw) about the nature of the discussion now. It must be weighed, considered and based on the facts. I hope that Kent county council will behave in that way. I shall attempt to do that, too.
Gregory Barker (Bexhill and Battle): East Sussex has fared badly under the settlement in recent years. What hope does the statement hold for solving the chronic overcrowding in classrooms in my constituency? For example, at key stage two in Battle and Langton primary school, we have classes of 37 and 36 in temporary huts. In Seddlescombe primary school, there are three classes with a total of 86 children who share two small classrooms and an activity area. At King Offa school in Bexhill, an excellent new headmaster is struggling with an historic deficit and faces the loss of his entire information technology suite because the leases are up for renewal. Apart from simply incremental increases in pupil funding, what measures does the statement contain to tackle chronic overcrowding?
Mr. Clarke: First, I do not believe that incremental increases should be sneered at. Many schools have been exercised by not receiving a regular incremental increase. Establishing a per pupil guarantee for the first time is important. Secondly, I confirm that East Sussex will benefit from the transitional grant. Thirdly, the position of the specific schools, with which I am not familiar, is a matter for the LEA to consider directly and decide how to tackle. There are hard decisions involved, but I, as Secretary of State for Education and Skills, am not going to decide precisely how the funding arrangements should affect the particular schools in the hon. Gentleman's constituency. It is for East Sussex,
with the headroom that it has, to decide how to target its resources to deal with the ills that the hon. Gentleman has described.
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