Plans to overhaul school funding will give schools greater freedom to run their own affairs, Stephen Twigg has said.

The schools minister said that moves to three year budgets for schools would allow "secure and predictable funding arrangements" to be put in place.

But shadow education secretary Tim Collins said only the Conservatives would genuinely allow greater school freedom.

The comments came as Twigg published a consultation document on the future of school funding.

It confirmed that the three year budgets, aligned to the academic year, will be based around pupil numbers with a guaranteed minimum increase each year for every school.

Ring-fenced

There will also be a ring-fenced grant for school funding from the Department for Education and Skills to local authorities.

A new "single standards grant" will simplify and streamline current standards-related funding streams.

Twigg said the government had "set out a vision of greater freedom and independence for schools to run their own affairs."

It would mean clear and simple lines of accountability and greater discretion over how schools can spend their standards-related funding, he said.

"The new school funding arrangements will realise this vision, providing streamlined, secure and predictable funding arrangements to allow schools to focus on raising standards and improved outcomes for every single pupil," added the minister.

"They will also enable schools to plan ahead to make the most effective use of their resources to secure better value for money."

More freedom

The Conservatives said the government had no track record on delivering greater freedom for schools or teachers.

"In their eight years in office, Labour have made school funding streams more complex than ever and have steadily taken autonomy away from heads," said Collins.

"Now, as in so many areas, they want people to believe that in their third term they would behave entirely differently from how they have acted in their first two. No one should fall for this."

The shadow education secretary said the Conservatives back the move to three year budgets, but would also allow "far greater and more genuine independence".

"Greater school freedom is more than just a book-keeping exercise," Collins said.

"Instead, government plans to allow more autonomy need be judged on three criteria:

"Do they give head teachers and governors complete control over their school’s financial decision making - including capital spending?

"Will they allow them to lay down minimum standards of pupil behaviour including binding home/school contracts and the final say on admissions and exclusions?

"And will head teachers be allowed to turn away children expelled from other schools?

"The answers to all three are a resounding 'no' and this initiative, alongside so many others from this Labour government, will turn out to be just talk."