28 March 2003
Widespread concern over the revised local authority grant formula led the government to stump up an additional £28m for schools this week, but ministers denied the cash boost had been influenced by the recent 'passporting' dispute.
Schools minister David Miliband announced cash injections for the 36 councils that received the lowest increase in their Education Formula Spending Share, modified as part of an overhaul of the broader council finance settlement this year.
Among those receiving a substantial boost is the London Borough of Croydon – one of the authorities at the centre of the row that erupted when Education Secretary Charles Clarke threatened to force it and Westminster City Council to pass on 100% of EFSS cash to schools to prevent it being used by other council departments.
Croydon has now received another £1.3m on top of the extra it and Westminster secured from Clarke to effectively end the passporting dispute two weeks ago.
But Westminster received no additional cash this week because although it was at the 'floor' of the overall finance settlement (3.5%), its EFSS was high.
Westminster's deputy leader, Kit Malthouse, was enraged. 'It's that sort of formula imbalance that causes disputes – we still face education shortfalls,' he told Public Finance.
A spokesman for Croydon said: 'This new cash goes to show that we were not crying wolf over passporting. But we still have to make substantial service cuts.'
The Department for Education and Skills denied that the row had influenced its decision to release additional funding. 'This is about the wider considerations that emerged from this year's settlements,' a spokesman said.
David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the additional money 'shows what lobbying can achieve'.
Other councils that received significant boosts this week included Waltham Forest (£2.1m), Norfolk (£1.5m) Bexley (£1.4m) and Essex (£1.1m).
PFmar2003
