A breakdown of how much cash each school in Shipley is receiving will be provided by Government after an MP demanded reassurances funding allocations were fair.
Shipley MP Philip Davies said some schools across the constituency had seen a reduction in funding and while some had seen an increase, it was not in line with rising expenditure.
Speaking in Common’s Education Questions he said: “The Minister knows that I have written to him and met him to discuss some of the budgets of schools in my constituency, which seem to be going down, at variance to the impression the Government would give; and those schools where the budget is going up seem to have their costs increasing at a faster rate than the increase in funding they are getting. Will the Minister look again at the schools budget in the Shipley constituency? Will he perhaps write to me with his understanding of what each school is getting this year and in the next financial year compared with the last financial year, and will he commit to making sure they get adequate funding?”
Mr Davies said if Government needed to find more money for Shipley schools, the overseas aid budget “would be a good place to start”.
Schools Minister Nick Gibb said he would write to Mr Davies and confirmed Government was spending record amounts on schools this year totaling £42.4 billion. He said he would provide
He added: “There has never been a sum as high spent on schools in our history, and it will rise again next year to £43.5 billion, and we announced an increase in school funding last July to the tune of £1.3 billion. That was the result of successful negotiations with the Treasury.”
Mr Davies added: “I do not dispute this Conservative Government is putting more money into education than ever before but I want to ensure Shipley schools are getting a fair deal and share of money.”