Hove MP urges Chancellor to find new money for schools in budget

Hove MP Peter Kyle is urging the Chancellor to find new money for schools in the budget on Monday (29 October).

The Labour MP also called on Philip Hammond to increase funding for high needs pupils and address staff pay.

In a letter to the Chancellor, Mr Kyle raised the case of a school in Hove where children are being taught in classrooms with water pouring through the ceiling when it rains.

He said that this was a direct result of government funding cuts.

Mr Kyle said: “Our children’s futures are being put at risk by this government whose obsession with the short term and austerity has made them blind to the real damage being done to our schools. They are at breaking point.

“The Chancellor must see sense and give our schools the proper funding they desperately need.”

In his letter Mr Kyle said: “Dear Chancellor, I am writing to you ahead of the upcoming budget to urge you to address the chronic underfunding of our schools which is having a serious and detrimental effect on the quality of our children’s learning as well as on staff morale.

“You may remember the case I raised with the Secretary of State for Education where in one school in my constituency children are being taught in classrooms with water pouring through the ceiling when it rains – a result of the 8 per cent cut in spending per pupil since 2010.

“We have also heard of chronic teacher shortages and a recruitment crisis, with nearly 35,000 teachers leaving the profession in 2016.

“I’m sure you will agree that this is a situation which is frankly unsustainable.

“As such, I am calling on you to take action in the budget and give schools the proper funding they desperately need.

“In particular, I am requesting that you
• Ensure that every school is guaranteed at least the same money per pupil, in real terms, as they had in 2015.
• Provide genuinely new money for schools, not funds taken from other areas of education spending. At least £2.8 billion more is required every year just to maintain funding in real terms in the face of inflation, cost increases and rising pupil numbers.
• Increase funding for high needs and early years pupils and post-16 students who have suffered even bigger cuts since 2010.
• Introduce a five-year funding plan so that schools have a guarantee of how much money they will receive for the next five years.
• Address historic underfunding by levelling the funding for schools in historically underfunded areas to the same levels as better funded areas.
• Implement the recommendations of the independent School Teachers’ Review Body in full. The cost of pay awards and agreements for teachers, sixth form college tutors and support staff must be fully funded so that schools and colleges are not forced to make cuts to give staff a pay rise.

“I look forward to your response.”