By Adrian Mcllelan And Sammie Jones
Leaders of two powerful parliamentary committees are to closely scrutinise education ministers on the details of their budget planning.
Meg Hillier,who chairs the public accounts committee and Robert Halfon, chair of the education committee have merged forces with the Liberal Democrat education spokesperson and 52 other MPs to demand an “estimates day” debate on education spending plans. The debate has been scheduled for next Tuesday afternoon. Hillier said the purpose of the debate was for “ministers come to the house and answer in detail about the budget they’re responsible for”.
The session is set to probe the financial plans of the Department for Education’s plans than is allowed during regular education questions in the House of Commons, where follow-up requests from MPs are limited.
The DfE has been pumping a lot of money into education and increasing costs for schools, mainly aimed at making conditions suitable for raising the standard of education in the Uk. However, there have been burning questions as to how well money pumped into education is being well managed.
Some critics have lamented the failure of the Department Of Education to spread out their resources in ensuring that Universities meet their obligation to admit a more diverse range of students. Pressure from all quarters is being applied to Universities to re-introduce a system of maintenance grants for the most disadvantaged students. There has also be the crucial issue of holding University Vice Chancellors to account about their earnings. Vice Chancellors have been found to be earning over eight times the income of regular staff salary, leading to allegations of abuse of funds.
When it comes to primary and secondary schools, the Department Of Education has pumped in a lot of money to increase teachers wages , provide better facilities, and spread best standards of teaching and practise, gathered from the best primary and secondary schools in the Uk. They have done a good job in this area, but are yet to convince Mps that there overall budget for education is well allocated. Halford said:
“One of the concerns we’ve had is that there’s a lot of simple lines that come out from a ministers in questions, perhaps in debates about money going into education, but there’s never the chance in those circumstances to really get into the detail of the budget.
“So while you can argue that money’s gone up, pupils have gone up, so the funding per pupil has gone down, that’s one of the issues we want to probe.” MPs are growing increasingly sceptical about education spending which is increasingly becoming a campaign issue not just for opposition MPs, but also Conservatives who back the government.
The debate presents a “real opportunity for us to get into depth on this”, Hillier said, adding that she would also explore concerns that this year’s spending review – seen as the only opportunity to significantly boost education funding – could be delayed.
“We will be intending, if we get this debate, to make sure that all members have access to a detailed briefing from the national audit office so that we really do focus the debate on the numbers.”
Halfon, said MPs were hoping to see a 10-year plan for education, in the same vein as the proposal announced for the NHS last year.
Moran, who also sits on Hillier’s committee, said she would focus on questions around school capital spending. He also expressed concerns above how the sector will remove abestos from schools.
“We are absolutely not trying to make party-political points. We absolutely align, cross-party, when it comes to [the fact] we’re not convinced that value for money is always at the heart of what the department is able to deliver with the money it’s got.”