17/06/2010
ON 15TH JUNE, ROBIN WALKER tabled his first Early Day Motion (EDM) as the Member of Parliament for Worcester, entitled "F40 and Education Funding".
In Robin's maiden parliamentary speech on 8th June, he brought the House's attention to the stark fact that "the average pupil in Worcestershire receives £370 less than the national average and a staggering £762 less than children in the neighbouring authorities of Birmingham, despite the fact that some parts of my constituency are among the 10 per cent most deprived areas in the country."
The EDM (no. 236) "commends the campaign" of the F40 group for fairer funding for schools, and shows that achieving fairer funding will be one of Robin's top priorities as Worcester's MP.
The full text of the EDM and the list of signatories can be found here:
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=41160&SESSION=905
In the EDM, Robin "notes with concern the widening gap between the best and worst funded education authorities in recent years". The new Coalition Government has put forth policy proposals for education, , which it is hoped will begin to address this funding gap. The EDM "particularly welcomes the idea of a pupil premium and urges the Government to proceed rapidly with measures that will provide fairer funding for those education authorities that are members of the F40 group."
Furthermore, Robin has accepted the invitation of F40 group leaders to join its Executive Committee and will attend its next meeting in September.
Robin said
"I have always said that I would campaign for fairer funding for Worcester's schools and I am glad that I have been able to get going on this early in my Parliamentary career. I am grateful to the MPs from F40 authorities and from around the country who have backed my motion and I hope that leads to rapid progress for the cause. I am excited about some of the Coalition's policies for education and I am looking forward to working with both F40 and ministerial colleagues to get a better deal for Worcester."
Notes to Editors:
Worcestershire County Council is a member of f40, the Campaign for Fairer Funding in Education, which represents a group of the lowest funded education authorities in England. In these areas, government cash allocations for primary and secondary pupils are the lowest in the country.
These low funded county, metropolitan and unitary education authorities represent almost 20 million people in nearly 200 parliamentary constituencies. F40 has the support of MPs, education directors, governors, head teachers, parents and teaching union representatives.
For further information on F40 and its campaigns, please see their website:
http://www.f40.org.uk/
The pupil premium is a policy proposed by the Coalition Government, which will fund a significant premium for disadvantaged pupils from outside the schools budget by reductions in spending elsewhere.
| 
