24 March 2006
As education leaders rushed to praise a Budget that promised huge increases in education spending, it emerged that the Treasury's familiar sleight of hand was in evidence.
Capital spending on schools is to rise from current levels of £5.6bn a year to £8bn a year by 2011, trumpeted as an increase of £34bn over five years by Chancellor Gordon Brown.
But the Department for Education and Skills later admitted that figure had been calculated by adding together each year's capital allocation up to 2010/11.
'We do not have top-level figures for the intervening years,' a DfES spokesman told Public Finance. 'They will become clear in the [2007] Comprehensive Spending Review.'
In an education-heavy Budget, Brown announced that it was his intention to increase per-pupil spending from £5,000 to £8,000 a year — the amount currently spent on a typical pupil in the private sector.
'Our long-term aim should be to ensure for 100% of our children the educational support now available to just 10%,' Brown said.
Teachers' leaders were delighted. Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said Brown's commitment to increased investment in education was just the boost schools needed.
'By targeting high class sizes and the invidious gap between state and private school spending he has shown that he understands the needs of schools communities. It is exactly the kind of vision we want from this government,' he said.
The further education sector welcomed the announcement of free A-level equivalent education for young people up to the age of 25.
PFmar2006
