Devon Lib Dem MPs hope to use collective weight to close £23m education funding gap

Devon’s Liberal Democrats are hoping to band together to secure more funding for education in the county.

Honiton and Sidmouth MP Richard Foord claims the funding formula  “disadvantages rural schools” and it is “time for it to be reviewed”.
“It will be something I pursue along with my new MP colleagues,” he said.
“We now have six Liberal Democrat MPs in Devon, and we will use our collective weight to push Devon’s case.”
The formula means that minimum paid this year are £4,610 per pupil for primary schools and £5,995 per pupil for secondary schools.
In total, school funding is made up of 14 factors, including deprivation, small and remote schools, and money related to school premises, such as if they have split sites.
This tends to mean larger urban schools receive more funding even after additional support has been given to smaller, rural schools.
Mr Foord said the quality of education in urban areas had improved dramatically in recent years because of greater levels of investment, but that  counties like Devon are being left behind.
His comments come after a meeting with Devon County Council’s chief executive Donna Manson and leader James McInnes (Conservative, Hatherleigh and Chagford).
Ms Manson recently told a council meeting she wanted to speak with Devon’s new MPs to get them to fight the county’s corner on education funding, which she believed falls short by £23 million a year compared to some authorities.
Devon has long been part of a group of local authorities called F40, which is made up of the 40 lowest funded local authorities in England and which believes it disadvantaged by the education funding formula.
Earlier this year, the F40 group, which included Devon’s longest-serving MP Sir Gary Streeter, secured a debate in parliament about education funding, pushing home its message that reform was needed in the funding formula, and also highlighting the growing crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) funding.
In a letter more than five years ago to the-then chancellor Phillip Hammond, the group called on the Conservatives to consider changes to the funding formula.
The renewed impetus on education funding more broadly pressures comes as Devon works to tackle its ballooning special educational needs and disabilities (Send) deficit, which stood at over £163 million last year.
The council struck a deal with the Department for Education, which will provide £95 million to the council over nine years, but the authority must make savings and reduce its deficit.