Spending Review and Autumn Statement 2015: Key points
Chancellor George Osborne delivered his spending review during the Autumn Statement 2015 on Wednesday.
Here are the key points related to education, which Mr Osborne referred to as “the door to opportunity in our society”:
- School funding will be protected in line with inflation;
- A fairer national funding formula for schools will be introduced in 2017; Nicky Morgan to launch consultation in 2016 – “we will phase out the arbitrary and unfair school funding system that has systematically underfunded schools in whole swathes of the country“;
- Sixth Form Colleges given freedom to become academies so they no longer have to pay VAT – “we will make local authorities running schools a thing of the past”;
- Universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) and Pupil Premium funding protected on a per-pupil basis;
- £23bn will be spent on opening the 500 free schools promised in the Conservative manifesto, and to rebuild and refurbish over 500 more.
So how would a fairer national funding formula look for schools in the North East? See a breakdown of our analysis that paints the regional picture (click here for the interactive version):
