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Business Activity Archive

Briefings were staged for MPs at the House of Commons on:

On Monday 26 March 2018, f40 held a conference in Westminster on the National Funding Formula (NFF), its implications for f40 members and how f40’s fair funding campaign should develop in the future.

The keynote speaker was Tony Foot, Director of the DfE’s Education Funding Group.

Besides hearing about the current government thinking on the National Funding Formula, there were sessions on the implications of NFF from a local authority and Schools Forum perspective, plus presentations on High Needs and Early Years. We also heard about three other campaigns fighting for fairer funding for schools.

The afternoon session was given over to consideration of what member authorities said in the recent Survey conducted by f40…and a general discussion about how f40’s campaign should be re-focused now that the NFF is being implemented.

 



Chairman’s introduction

Cllr Ivan Ould, Chair of f40 – a warm welcome to over 100 delegates who are obviously very interested and concerned about the NFF and where the f40 campaign goes in the future.



Section 1 – The National Funding Formula

 



Section 2: Views on school funding from other campaigning organisations
  • Key issues for implementing the new NFF – Julia Harnden, Funding Specialist, ASCL – presentation here.
  • WorthLess? – it’s not just about the money – Jules White, Head, Tanbridge House School, West Sussex – presentation here.
  • School funding: the parents’ perspective – Flora Page, Fair Funding for All Schools campaign – Flora did not use slides but gave a passionate plea for solidarity and collaboration from all interested organisations to achieve better funding for education. She said the country’s future depends on high quality education for all and any government that ignores this fact does so at its peril.

 



Section 3: The Future of f40’s Fair Funding Campaign
  • The f40 Members’ Survey – Margaret Judd, f40 Executive Committee and Sufficiency & Funding Team Manager, Dorset County Council – presentation here.
  • Notes of the conference including a discussion – Re-focusing the fair funding campaign – led by Cllr Ivan Ould and Margaret Judd – notes available here.

f40 warmly welcomed the announcement in the 2015 Autumn Spending Review that a new national funding formula is to be introduced by 2017. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, included a commitment to a new formula as part of his statement, confirming that the government intends to phase out the existing arbitrary and unfair system in favour of a new national funding formula.

Discussion

The consultation – 1st stage

The 1st Stage consultation was launched in March 2016. Below are links to the Secretary of State’s announcement in Parliament and the consultation documents. The closing date was 7 April 2016.

You can read f40’s initial reaction to the announcement on our news page.

Read f40’s responses to the consultation here.

On 21st July 2016, the government announced that the 2nd Stage consultation will be delayed until the autumn 2016. Click here to read the Secretary of State’s announcement.

On 29 November 2016, a delegation from f40 met with the Secretary of State for Education to discuss the forthcoming consultation and to raise concerns about a range of school funding issues. Read the notes of the meeting.

The consultation – 2nd stage

The Government launched its 2nd stage consultation on 14th December 2016. It will last fourteen weeks concluding on 22nd March 2017. Full details and relevant documents can be located on the Department for Education website.

Click here: https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula2/

By coincidence, f40 representatives were attending a meeting with Nick Gibb MP, the Minister for School Standards, as the announcement was being made on this page. The notes of that meeting are available here.

On Monday 20 February 2017, f40 held a Briefing in the House of Commons for MPs representing poorly funded areas. Over 60 MPs attended. The following documents are relevant:

 

f40 wrote to the Prime Minister on 10 March 2017 to draw her attention to the concerns that the group’s membership have about the proposals presented in the NFF consultation and their failure to address fair funding in the way that had been anticipated. Read the letter here.

 

The House of Commons Library has published this interesting Briefing Paper – School funding in England: Current system and proposals for ‘fairer school funding’.