Schools face funding cuts crisis

Ministers are facing mounting questions about a financial crisis that is threatening the education of tens of thousands of teenagers.

Schools and colleges said sixth-formers could be turned away from courses in the autumn after Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, forced a last-minute cut in funding.

The Daily Telegraph established that the funding gap was nearly £200 million, more than three times the original estimate. It came about despite rising demand for places at schools and colleges from teenagers, who found that the recession reduced the number of jobs available.

At the same time, millions of pounds was spent on Gordon Brown's flagship apprenticeship scheme.

Ministers said the funding gap arose because of a surprise jump in the number of children being allocated places in schools and colleges for the next school year. Yet the Tories said government documents showed that officials knew six months ago that applications were surging well above the expected level.

Michael Gove, the Conservative education spokesman, said Mr Balls had "some serious explaining to do" over his account of how the crisis developed. Mr Balls accused Mr Gove of talking "utter nonsense" and misleading people.

Hundreds of schools and colleges were facing financial hardship after the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) told them last week that funds allocated weeks previously were reduced, some by hundreds of thousands of pounds.

On March 2, the LSC told heads it was able to fund an extra 30,000 school and college places because it had won "nearly £200 million of new money". But after that letter was sent, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) informed the LSC that the extra money would not be forthcoming. As a result, the quango wrote back to heads last week telling them that their allocations had been cut.

Details of the letter were released last Thursday, the day that attention was focused on the G20 summit in London.

Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, said last week that the squeeze arose because "we are now seeing an even greater surge in demand for places than we have budgeted for." But documents seen by the Tories appeared to show that senior LSC officials knew as long ago as last autumn that many more children than they had expected were choosing to attend schools and colleges.

Minutes of a meeting of its National Council on Nov 5, which was attended by a DCSF official, recorded a "strong growth in young people's participation, which stood at several percentage points above the plan".

"It was evident from the figures that young people were choosing the school and college route, which could have an impact on apprenticeships," it added.

The document also recorded that the LSC was already overspending its budget.

Mr Balls conceded that some children would be denied places in September unless ministers could find £200 million. He was under pressure to explain what role his department played in the LSC's decision to award "final" allocations on March 2 before cutting those allocations on March 31.

Government sources suggested that ministers were not aware of the LSC's first letter until the second note was sent but the LSC said Mr Balls's department was kept aware of what the quango was doing throughout. The letters sent to head teachers warning them of cuts included a note saying that the DCSF was "involved throughout and approved the changes".

A department spokesman claimed last night that the discussion in November referred to children starting courses last September. He said they were "working across government on the extra financial support we need to provide for the new learners that are coming forward".  Continues here

No British jobs British workers and no school place for British learners, over subscribed in all areas, our infrastructure shaky and still they will not relent, still the flood, so resource conflict will escalate, prices will rise, resentment will grow and you the taxpayer will pay, a sorry, sorry state of affairs.

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