Thousands of signatures have been added to petitions asking the Government to ensure school funding is fairer. On Tuesday 1 December Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, joined colleagues as these petitions from over 100 constituencies were presented by MPs in the House of Commons chamber.
It follows years of campaigning by the F40 Group of poorly-funded local authorities, and a Parliamentary campaign to make the issue a top political priority.
In October, Mr Hollinrake was one of 111 MPs who wrote to the Prime Minister about making school funding fairer. He welcomed the Chancellor’s commitment to introduce fair school funding as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review announced last week.
Speaking after the announcement Mr Hollinrake said,
"The government has accepted that funding for schools in rural areas has been unfair for many years. Some local authorities have been receiving up to 50% more per pupil per year, which could mean a difference of many hundreds of thousands of pounds for the annual budget of each school. I would like to thank the head teachers and the many parents and members of the public who supported our efforts. I am very pleased that our campaign has been successful and look forward to marshalling similar campaigns for local services and for health spending."