Mark Garnier participated in a debate on Tuesday to raise Worcestershire MPs' concerns over school funding with the Minister of State for Schools, David Laws.
The debate was called by West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin in response to the recent announcement that the Department of Education is allowing local authorities to allocate a lump sum of £200,000 in their funding formula. Concerns have been raised over the impact this measure will have, due to inflexibility and the number of small rural schools in the Worcestershire community. If the authority cannot afford the fixed amount, good small schools may be forced to close.
In response, the Minister made a commitment that "small schools often play a vital role in communities, not least in rural areas, and it is not our intention that any good school should be forced to close as a result of these reforms ... the intention of the lump sum is to cover the fixed cost of a small school-for example, a head teacher, a caretaker and some administrative support." The lump sum is not designed to be spent on curriculum costs, which should be paid for by per pupil funding, and so should not require significant flexibility.
Worcestershire is ranked 147th (out of 152) in terms of school funding, receiving approximately 20% less funding per pupil than in nearby Birmingham. Mark and his fellow Worcestershire MPs have consistently pressed the Government for action. The Minister said "the Worcestershire file is probably the largest of any County". He added that, as a consequence of the debate, Worcestershire will now play a central role in review discussion with officials at the Department for Education.
The Minister committed to a simplified national formula, designed around per pupil funding, to be in place by 2015, and for the Minimum Funding Guarantee to continue beyond that point. This is a funding mechanism by which school budgets are protected against significant changes in formulae or in data not directly related to pupil numbers. Mr Laws assured those in attendance that the Government would carry out a review in 2013 to ensure that none of these changes creates a negative impact on schools.
Mark said, "I have worked on the issue of school funding in Worcestershire since before becoming the Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest, and am glad to see that the tireless efforts of Worcestershire MPs has acquired the direct attention of the Department for Education.
"I am grateful to the Minister for his reassurance that the Minimum Funding Guarantee will continue past 2015, and I am pleased to see the Government is taking positive and measured steps to address the imbalance in the system for the long term, while committing to protect small rural schools today."