Relief at Government u-turn!

When Government Ministers do listen, and change their minds and their policy, it’s only fair they are given some credit.

So, unusually, I want to thank Ministers for a major U-turn they have made over cash for schools. A U-turn saving many Kingston schools literally tens of thousands of pounds.

A few months ago, I was informed by a local headteacher and a school Governor that a new Government plan would hit their budgets hard. Ministers had decreed that 5% of a school’s reserves, as of March 31st 2007, would be taken away, and redistributed.
 
Coming out of the blue, this decision would have had serious consequences for some local schools. According to figures I obtained, the 3 worse hit local schools - Tiffin Girls, Coombe Girls and Castle Hill Primary - could have suffered a combined loss of over £55,000.

This “5% tax” was hitting schools who had saved up over years for major new capital projects – and would have applied to cash reserves already allocated to projects or even spent!

So I spoke to the Liberal Democrats’ Education Spokesman, David Laws – as this was a national policy mistake by Labour. Together with my Kingston’s other Lib Dem MP, Susan Kramer, we tabled a Parliamentary motion and Mr Laws achieved some excellent publicity exposing this unfair scheme.

And under our pressure, Ministers decided to scrap their plan.

While this was a historic victory, it does reveal a major problem with the way this Government governs. They just interfere too much. Why, in the first place, did they think that Ministers sitting in Whitehall can run individual school budgets better than local headteachers and governors?