Proceeding contribution from Ed Balls (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 30 March 2010. It occurred during Budget debate on Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation.
Budget Resolutions and Economic Situation
I shall give way in a second. I should like to set out in more detail our policy on Sure Start, on 16-to-19 funding and on schools, but before I do so I must say that there is a choice about different priorities and the different ways in which we fund things. This Budget has at its heart different choices, and to be fair to the Opposition they have been setting out their very different choices in recent days. If the shadow Education Secretary were here, I would not ask him to match me on schools spending or on pupil guarantees. I know that that is difficult for him, because he has different priorities. There are also problems that he has to face, and I understand his dilemma, which I shall explain to the shadow Business Secretary. He could answer and guide the shadow Education Secretary on how he should navigate those complexities. First, the shadow Education Secretary has a free schools policy, which will be on all the leaflets of all Opposition Members, so it will be good for them to hear about the detail of it. The extra places in that policy will cost about £1.8 billion over the next Parliament—from within the schools budget or from my unprotected £5 billion. It will also lead to shifting about £4 billion from the Building Schools for the Future budget to pay for the new free schools. Secondly, the shadow Education Secretary proposes to find about £2 billion to £3 billion, we think, for a new national pupil premium. Hon. Members—other than those who are experts on schools funding—may not know that, because they may not have followed the detail. As far as I have worked out, if the hon. Gentleman is to pay for the free schools policy and the national pupil premium, either he has to cut my unprotected budgets, which include those for sports, music, disabled children, short breaks—
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 508 c659-60
- Session
- 2009-10
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Childcare Cost effectiveness Capital investment Education Economic situation Pre-school education Public expenditure Schools VAT Economic recession Academies Children's centres Cuts Budget March 2010
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
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