Extra school places and building repairs
in £2.4bn boost
Schools in England are to receive £2.4bn
for extra places and building repairs.
The announcement by Education Secre-
tary Justine Greening will help to create
600,000 more places by 2021.
Extra places are needed to keep pace
with a rising school-age population - and
to create places in a new wave of gram-
mar schools.
But head teachers say the money for
buildings does nothing for the “black
hole” in day-to-day running costs.
The allocation of funds for school plac-
es and buildings is not new money,
but draws upon funding from the 2015
spending review.
There will be £980m for extra school
places, including an expansion in selec-
tive schools.
Speaking last week, the education secre-
tary promised a “new model” for gram-
mars and said local communities would
have a “choice over how selection works”.
There will be £1.4bn to improve the
condition of schools, with 1,500 school
building projects to be funded.
But a recent report from the National Au-
dit Office said that it would cost £6.7bn
to get all schools in England into an ac-
ceptable state of repair.
Last week the public accounts committee
published a hard-hitting report accusing
the Department for Education of failing
to recognise the seriousness of funding
problems for schools.
Head teachers have been warning of hav-
ing to cut staff because of budget short-
ages.
The National Association of Head Teach-
ers said budgets were at “breaking point”
and that the announcements over extra
places failed to address funding prob-
lems for basic running costs, such as
staffing.
“This is money that was already allocat-
ed to building new places and so it does
nothing to help fill the £3bn black hole
in day-to-day school spending,” said the
NAHT’s leader Russell Hobby.
John Pugh, education spokesman for the
Liberal Democrats, said this was “the po-
litical equivalent of a microwavable meal
- reheated so often it loses its lustre.
“This government is slashing funding for
poorer pupils while spending millions on
its own wasteful pet projects.”
Education Secretary Justine Greening
said: “This £2.4bn investment, together
with our proposals to create more good
school places, will help ensure every
young person has the opportunity to ful-
fil their potential.”
London’s housing crisis is set to worsen unless more young Brit-
ons train to become builders
ahead of Brexit, Labour warned today.
The number of construction apprentices has declined by 25 per cent in
four years and almost half of all
builders in London come from outside the UK.
Shadow housing minister John Healey said the figures are a “wake-up call” for ministers and bosses to encourage
more young people into the industry. He said: “Not enough has been done to train up young Brits to work in the
building trade and the risk now is that Brexit will leave us without the skilled workforce to build the homes that
the capital needs.” New figures from the Mayor’s Housing in London report show that of the 348,000 construction
workers in the capital, 55 per cent are from the UK, 27 per cent are from the EU and 18 per cent are from else-
where. Former prime minister David Cameron promised three million apprentices nationwide by 2020 but govern-
ment figures show the number people taking up construction training in London has dropped from 730 appren-
tices in 2011/12 to 560 in 2014/15. Mr Healey said: “To help tackle London’s housing crisis we need action from
ministers now, starting with an urgent assessment of the Brexit risks to the industry and a fresh focus on funding
the training of young Londoners.”