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ePolitix.com stakeholders comment on news of the publication of the committee for children, schools and families report on schools and children's services spending.
Party Response: Liberal Democrats
David Laws, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for children, schools and families, said: "The coming years will see a massive squeeze on schools' budgets, with many of them experiencing real cuts. This makes a mockery of Labour's promise to prioritise education and create world class schools.
"The government should look at axing many of its centrally driven schemes and give more money straight to schools so that they can focus on addressing their own priorities and raising standards."
Stakeholder Response: National Union of Teachers
Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The select committee is right to point to the potential storm on the horizon for education spending, created by the financial crisis. It is vital, therefore, that education funding maintains its upward trajectory so that Gordon Brown's commitment to matching spending for schools in the state sector with that of the private sector is realised.
"It is about time that the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for school building was laid to rest. The select committee is right to question the future viability of PFI. The NUT has always opposed this expensive and burdensome approach to building schools. With the collapse in property prices and the looming recession, the government should take the decisive step and end PFI.
"I am deeply concerned that schools in deprived areas are not receiving their full share of funding. The existence of Academies, as the select committee says, further undermines the capacity of local authorities to distribute school funding equitably; which is a further argument for ending Academy status."
Stakeholder Response: Design & Technology Association
A spokesman for the Design & Technology Association told ePolitix.com: "At a time of unprecedented curriculum change – including a primary curriculum review, the implementation of a new secondary curriculum, new GCSEs and diplomas, to name but a few – it is imperative that the funding, and the time, for professional development is secured.
"Too often teachers, and support staff, are expected to implement change with the minimum of training and the maximum of goodwill. With the scale of change underway this is neither feasible nor acceptable this time round.
"Primary teachers will be expected to implement a radically different curriculum from September 2011. The training needs of 18,000 primary schools will be immense and is only planned to start in 2010.
"Over the next three years secondary teachers are being expected to implement diploma courses with an anticipated uptake of 40 per cent of the student cohort. There is already a concern that training is not meeting this need. Funding for CPD needs to grow over the next three to five years if the planned changes are to be effectively implemented.
"Building Schools for the Future projects remain a concern for the Design and Technology Association. Evidence we have received suggests that in too many projects there is at best inadequate advice being provided to architects, local authorities and schools to help them specify the requirements for specialist facilities such as design and technology rooms.
"If new schools are to be built with specialist accommodation which is appropriate to the 21st century, and not merely with replicas or adaptations of 20th century solutions, then the DCSF should consider how subject specialist advice can be incorporated into the BSF process."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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