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Windsor MP
Calls on Government to Stop “Smash and Grab” Raid on Local
Schools
30-Oct-07, Press Release.
The bank balances of local schools are set to be plundered,
Adam Afriyie MP warned today. Local authorities and
schools across the country have expressed alarm at
Government plans to raid school budgets, and snatch back 5
per cent of any surplus every year for the next three years.
This would mean over £250 million in cash will be grabbed
back, an average of £10,000 per school. Yet such a
‘clawback’ will:
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penalise prudent schools across Windsor which save
money,
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punish schools saving up to fund a major capital
project, such as a new building,
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be retrospective, based on the balances in March 2007
onwards, hitting schools even if they have spent the
surplus since then, and
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create a perverse incentive for schools to spend their
surpluses by the end of the financial year, undermining
long-term planning and encouraging waste.
This will mean total losses of £376,455 across Windsor.
Mr Afriyie said:
“We have some fantastically well-managed schools across the
Windsor constituency and I do note their careful management
and planning of their finances undermined by this Government
“With this Government Head teachers are used to receiving
money with strings – not elastic bands. Schools across
Windsor that have carefully managed to put aside funds to
invest in improving our children’s schools are now facing a
smash and grab raid.
“We should trust head teachers to manage their budgets by
giving them more power, not less. We need to end constant
state control and meddling from bureaucrats in Whitehall.”
Mr Afriyie has today written to the Secretary of State for
Children, Schools and Families asking him to stop this
‘clawback.’
Contact Details:
Adam Afriyie MP
Telephone: 0207 219 8023
Email:
afriyiea@parliament.uk
Notes to Editors
WHITEHALL-ORDERED RAID ON
SCHOOL BUDGETS
The Government announced in
June that it would seize 5% of all unspent schools’ budgets,
every year for the next three years between 2008 and 2011.
The Labour Minister explained:
“We will also take further
action on school balances, to follow up the clawback
mechanism for excessive balances that we introduced this
year. Our aim is to ensure that the £1.6 billion currently
in school balances is substantially reduced, and is used to
support the education of today’s children rather than
sitting in schools’ bank accounts. Local authorities will
be required to redistribute to schools a small percentage
(5%) of all surplus school balances through the local
authority funding formula.”
Hansard,
25 June 2007, col. 3WS.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmhansrd/
cm070625/wmstext/70625m0001.htm#0706251000003
The latest data published by
the Government shows that schools have total balances of
£1.7 billion – higher than the Minister’s earlier estimate.
If 5 per cent is clawed back each year, and allowing for
interest on the balances of 5 per cent at year end, this
equals £85.5 million grabbed in 2008-9, £85.3 million in
2009-10, and £85.1 million in 2010-11 - a total of £256
million over the three-year budget period of 2008-2011.
LOCAL FIGURES
Figures on the surpluses of
each local authority maintained school are held by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families, covering
24,000 local authority primary, secondary, nursery and
special schools. Source:
http://www.dfes.gov.uk/localauthorities/section52/subPage.cfm?action=section52.default&ID=84
Conservatives have analysed
these figures and produced estimates for the money that will
be lost for each school.
PDF version:
http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/Data-SchoolRaid-Oct2007-1.pdf
Excel version:
http://www.conservatives.com/pdf/Data-SchoolRaid-Oct2007-1.xls
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