PRESS RELEASE

23 May 2003

Croydon must recognise severity of schools crisis: Ottaway

Richard Ottaway, Conservative MP for Croydon South, has again asked the Secretary of State for Education to acknowledge the severity of the schools funding crisis and to accept that it is caused by insufficient funding from Central Government. (see Hansard extract attached).
Richard Ottaway says:-

"Again the Secretary of State passes the buck saying that Croydon should have passported more money to the Schools Budget. What he doesn't say is that earlier this year his department agreed to Croydon passporting less than the full amount."

"He must also be aware that Headteachers are already working closely with LEA officials. It is on LEA advice that schools are looking to increase class sizes and reduce the number of lessons per week."

Ends.

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