Government moves to quell school funding formula fears


Ministers have moved to reassure headteachers about the future of their budgets, amid fears that plans to simplify funding mechanisms could lead to school closures. Widespread concern about the


changes caused the Department for Education (DfE) to write to schools earlier this month to confi rm that a Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) would be in place until at least 2015. This means that no school will lose more than 1.5 per cent of its total budget in the next and subsequent financial years as the new funding mechanisms are implemented. After 2015, there will be further


safeguards, the government says, although actual figures will not be released until the next Comprehensive Spending Review in three years’ time. Under the funding changes, local


authorities are required to pay each school a lump sum of equal value regardless of their pupil numbers, intake or other factors, and the list of 37 criteria formerly used to allocate further funding to schools


has been cut to just 12. It means that some schools will benefi t fi nancially while others will lose out. Local authorities were required


to submit their funding formulae to the government’s Education Funding Agency by the end of October. A DfE spokesman said it had


always intended to safeguard school budgets while the national funding formula changed. He said that some local authorities and schools had not been aware of the existence or extent of the MFG. He continued: “Although we


cannot give an exact fi gure for the MFG in future years until after the next spending review, ministers are clear that it will continue to operate, in order to offer protection against unmanageable falls in school budgets. This will help us to make steady progress towards the goal of a consistent national formula.” The move follows representations


from local authorities, including Staffordshire County Council and other members of the F40 group of lowest-funded councils, to David


Laws, the minister for schools. He has pledged to review the arrangements next year to assess the impact the reforms will have on schools. In Cumbria, some schools


faced losing up to 30 per cent of their budgets and the prospect of closure. In Worcestershire, meanwhile, the changes caused protests by headteachers of rural schools, who said they would be disproportionately affected. In future, being a rural school will no longer attract any additional funding. Malcolm Trobe, deputy


general secretary for policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the problem had been exacerbated by the government making funding changes in the wrong order. “If they had reformed the


central government to local authority funding formulas in the first instance, instead of starting with how schools are funded by local councils, then some of these issues might have been ironed out


sooner because councils would have known how much money was available. “What ministers have tried to do


is to create a more equitable funding mechanism for schools but it is now over-simplifi ed with the result that it is still not meeting the needs of schools. This is a huge concern to many of our members, particularly in areas which have historically received less funding.” Ian Parry, Staffordshire County


Council’s cabinet member for fi nance, education and skills, said concerns remained over the long- term effect of a reduction in school funding. He said: “These reforms do not


take into account the diverse school landscape we have, and do not stop the fact that some schools will enjoy big increases to their budgets at the expense of others. We have agreed all along that school funding needs to be fair and we are working with our schools to ensure they get the best out of this. We will be doing everything we can to avoid a fi nancial crisis in our schools.”


Calls grow for UK asbestos audit


Calls for a UK-wide audit of asbestos in schools have increased after councils in Wales were ordered to compile information on the presence of the deadly material. It comes after the temporary


closure earlier this month of Cwmcarn High School in Caerphilly after concerns about asbestos came to light. The school re-opened gradually


this week but Wales’s education minister Leighton Andrews has now asked all local authorities to report on asbestos levels in their schools. The Joint Union Asbestos


Committee (JUAC) has been pushing for a UK-wide audit to establish the extent and condition of asbestos-containing materials in schools. However, in his response to


a Parliamentary question in the aftermath of the Cwmcarn closure, the UK schools minister David Laws maintained that a national audit is “unnecessary”. He said: “It would duplicate


records which those responsible for managing asbestos are required to keep. Under the Control of


Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure asbestos is managed properly by schools. However, campaigners are concerned that the HSE will no longer proactively inspect UK schools. JUAC wants a national audit of


Asbestos Regulations 2012, schools must maintain and regularly update an asbestos register with the location and condition of asbestos- containing materials in the school.” More than 75 per cent of Britain’s


state schools contain asbestos and a report earlier this year from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health found that much of it is badly


maintained, meaning that children and staff are at risk of exposure. More than 140 school teachers have died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma in the past 10 years. Research has estimated that more than 100 adults a year could be dying in the UK after being exposed at school as children. The government says it is working with the Health and


the “extent, type and condition” of asbestos in schools and a risk assessment of the standards of asbestos management. This, it says, will help target resources for schools most at risk. Its chair Julie Winn said: “This incident in Wales demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the government’s policy to manage asbestos in schools instead of getting it removed. We fear that children’s and teachers’ safety is being jeopardised in relying on local authorities and individual schools to assess and maintain the condition of this deadly material. It is time the government made a commitment to carrying out a national audit.” It comes as the Department for


Education publishes e-guidance on how schools and governors should manage asbestos in their buildings. The guidance is available at www. education.gov.uk/b00215518/ asbestosmanagementschools


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