Clarke unveils education spending plans
The education secretary has outlined plans to spend extra funding announced by the chancellor in this week’s annual Budget.
Charles Clarke told the House of Commons yesterday that education spending would rise by an extra £8.5 billion for nurseries, schools, colleges and universities over the next three years.
Some of the funding, he said, would come from 31 per cent cuts in staff at the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), efficiency gains worth 2.5 per cent, as well as more corporate sponsorship in schools.
The Treasury plans to boost education spending by 4.4 per cent by summer 2008 and spending on education across the UK will rise from 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2004-2005 to 5.6 per cent in 2007-2008.
Total education spending for England will be £63.9 billion in 2007-2008, a rise from £56.5 billion in 2005-2006. The chancellor promised similar increases for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mr Clarke also revealed that there would be an increase in private sponsorship of schools with increasing collaboration with outside companies, such as the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) and Microsoft deal which is worth an estimated £46 million to schools.
“We will work with our partners in children’s services, education and training to ensure that resources – people and money – can be used as effectively as possible, for example, through reduced bureaucracy and workforce reform,” the minister said in a written statement to the house.
He claimed that the government was providing a “major and stable advance at every level of education”.
Capital investment in schools is due to increase from £6 billion this year to £8.1 billion in 2008 and the number of pre-school children’s centres will rise to 1,700 by 2008, covering “all 20 per cent of the country’s most disadvantaged wards”, Mr Clarke said.
However, he released few details of exactly how the extra money would be used, instead focusing his speech on highlighting the progress made in schools since 1997 and reinforcing his commitment to curriculum reforms and expanding the specialist schools programme.
“With this new investment, we will develop a new relationship with schools to help deliver personalised learning tailored to the talents and needs of every pupil, underpinned by a strengthened accountability framework, a simplified school improvement process and improved information and data management,” the education secretary stated.
He also hinted at extra funding for universities and career advice centres, as well as an expansion of childcare places, family support services, and extended schools.
The Conservatives criticised Mr Clarke for stealing their own policies and claimed that the shadow chancellor’s spending proposals were identical to those unveiled this week by Gordon Brown.
“Under your policy you are proposing to spend less on schools than the Conservative Party,” Conservative education spokesman Tim Yeo said.
