4 2GM Friday August 7 2020 | the times
News
Children from the most affluent back-
grounds will benefit most from Boris
Johnson’s commitment to “level up”
school funding, an independent ana-
lysis due to be released today will sug-
gest.
Last month the prime minister con-
firmed that all state school pupils in
England would receive an increase in
central government funding as part of a
£7.1 billion investment in education
over the parliament.
But a report by the Education Policy
Institute (EPI), a think tank, found that
funding for next year would be skewed
towards schools in affluent areas that
have traditionally received less per
pupil than those in poorer areas.
Disadvantaged primary school
pupils will receive a real terms funding
increase of 0.6 per cent, whereas their
more affluent peers are set to receive a
funding increase of 1.1 per cent. White
British pupils will get real terms
Disadvantaged pupils to lose out
under PM’s ‘levelling up’ crusade
increases of 1.4 per cent, compared with
0.5 per cent for non-white British
pupils.
Meanwhile pupils for whom English
is their primary language will get real
terms increases of 1.2 per cent, com-
pared with 0.3 per cent for pupils for
whom English is an additional lan-
guage.
The settlement in secondary schools
is more evenly spread, but white British
pupils will still get real terms increases
of 0.7 per cent, whereas for non-white
British pupils the increase will be
0.3 per cent.
Under the overall settlement,
secondary schools will attract a mini-
mum of £5,150 per pupil — up from
£5,000 this year — and primary schools
will get at least £4,000 per pupil, up
from £3,750.
The increase is the second instal-
ment of a three-year settlement under
which annual funding will rise by a total
of £7.1 billion.
Jon Andrews, deputy head of re-search at the EPI, said the analysis
showed that the “longstanding link”
between school funding and pupil need
was “being eroded by the policy of ‘lev-
elling up’. The result is that over a four-
year period, disadvantaged pupils will
have received funding increases at
around two thirds the rate of their bet-
ter-off peers.”
David Laws, the former education
minister, and chairman of the institute,
said he was concerned that in the after-
math of the school shutdown following
the coronavirus outbreak the funding
settlement could further disadvantage
pupils from poorer backgrounds.
“School closures this year will have
been especially harmful for the learn-
ing outcomes of the poorest pupils,” he
said. “Those from disadvantaged back-
grounds will need maximum support to
ensure their life chances are not dam-
aged by this period of disruption.
“But by skewing extra funding to-
wards more affluent pupils, the govern-
ment’s approach of ‘levelling up’ schoolfunding is fundamentally at odds with
this goal.”
Julia Harnden, of the Association of
School and College Leaders, said: “The
problem is that many schools in de-
prived areas, where funding rates are
higher to support disadvantaged pupils,
are getting lower uplifts, because the
government isn’t putting enough
money into the system to increase their
funding to the same extent.”
The Department for Education said
that schools were receiving a £2.6 bil-
lion boost in funding this year, giving
every school more money. “The fund-
ing formula continues to target schools
that have the greatest number of pupils
from disadvantaged backgrounds, pro-
viding £6.4 billion for pupils with addi-
tional needs, representing 17 per cent of
the formula’s total funding.
“Schools that have been historically
underfunded will also receive the great-
est increase as every child deserves a
superb education,” it added.
Iain Martin, page 25Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Ministers rejected Japan’s offer of a
post-Brexit trade deal yesterday that
would reduce British farmers’ access to
Japanese markets.
Liz Truss, the international trade sec-
retary, and Toshimitsu Motegi, the Jap-
anese foreign minister, spent yesterday
trying to finalise details of what would
be the UK’s first significant post-Brexit
trade deal. The talks broke up after the
Ministers still hopeful for trade deal with Japan
Japanese side refused to offer the same
terms to UK agricultural exports as
they get under the present EU deal.
Negotiations are due to resume again
this morning in the hope of a compro-
mise before Mr Motegi returns to Japan
this evening.
Government sources insisted that
they were still hopeful a deal could be
done but said they would not give in to
time pressures at the expense of “Brit-
ish producers and farmers”.The dispute is understood to centre
not on meat exports but arable crop ex-
ports. Most other aspects of the deal,
which will largely replicate the EU’s
trade deal with Japan and protect
£13 billion of UK exports, are under-
stood to have been agreed.
Ms Truss said yesterday that there
was a commitment on both sides to
agree a deal by the end of the year:
“We’ve made further progress towards
a comprehensive deal with a like-mind-ed democracy and longstanding ally.”
Japan has pushed for agreement so
that the deal can be put to parliament in
the autumn. It is based on Japan’s pact
with the EU, which created the world’s
biggest free trade zone when it came in-
to effect last year.
British officials have estimated that a
modelled trade deal between the two
sides “could increase UK GDP in the
long run by 0.07 per cent”.
Leading article, page 27Oliver Wright
Brexit bureaucracy
Ministers are to spend
£355 million helping businesses in
Northern Ireland cope with the
extra bureaucracy of trading with
the rest of the UK after Brexit.
The Trader Support Service is
needed because Northern Ireland
will remain in alignment with EU
rules on goods, effectively
creating a regulatory border in
the Irish Sea from January 1.Judge’s race row
A judge who reduced a witness to
tears by badgering her about her
bowel problems has lost a race
discrimination case. Nawal
Kumrai, a first-tier tribunal judge
at Watford, accused two judges of
“subconscious” discrimination
after they raised complaints. The
London employment tribunal
said the outcome would have been
the same if he had been white.Villagers’ trench plan
Residents in Grange Moor, a
village in West Yorkshire, are
considering digging a trench to
keep out travellers. Kirklees
council evicted the travellers in
June but they returned this week.
Residents made makeshift
barriers and the travellers left. Bill
Armer, a Conservative councillor,
said the trench plan “is an idea
that goes back to the Stone Age”.Officer’s wallet theft
A police officer was caught
stealing money from a wallet at
Cheltenham Festival, a court was
told. Matthew Rollason, 38, of
Gloucestershire Police, was given
a wallet by a person in March last
year. Bristol crown court was told
that he removed about £
before handing it in. He pleaded
guilty and was given a suspended
sentence and told to pay costs.Maddie suspect case
The European Court of Justice
has sided against a German
suspect in the disappearance of
Madeleine McCann in his effort
to overturn a rape conviction.
Christian Brückner, 43, was
sentenced to seven years in jail for
the 2005 rape of a 72-year-old
woman in Portugal. His case rests
on a legal point relating to his
extradition to Germany from
Portugal and later Italy. A
preliminary opinion by the court,
which is not binding, disagreed. A
final decision is due at a later date.A B C D E E E E
E G H M M M N N
O P R R R S T T
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Cryptic clues every day onlineDress rehearsal Sophie Reynolds hanging up Regency clothing in a new installation at Jane Austen’s House in Alton, Hampshire, as it prepares to reopen tomorrow
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