UPDATED WITH TORY REPLY: Brent Tories asked 'Where's the money coming from?' on their schools policy

 I received an election leaflet cheekily called 'Barnhill Ward Matters' through my door last week from Brent North Conservatives last week and was puzzled by their education policy. I am awaiting a response to my email below:

I have had your leaflet through the door and would like you to clarify Point 5 of your plan for Brent:

INSPIRING FUTURES THROUGH BETTER EDUCATION

The Conservatives will invest in schools to deliver a higher quality of education to exceed neighbouring boroughs and bring aspiration to all the students in Brent, ensuring all individuals are given an equal opportunity for for life goals.

Local authority schools and academies are funded through the National Funding Formula government funding. The money for local authority schools goes to the Council who then distribute it to schools based on a number of factors agreed with Schools Forum. Academies and free schools are funded directly from the government with the appropriate amount then taken from the LA's schools budget.

There is no direct funding of the running of schools from the Council’s own Council Tax/Business Rates income.

The government is aiming to reduce the role of LAs in deciding how the national funding is allocated to schools:

Since financial year 2018-19, a new National Funding Formula (NFF) has been used to determine how much mainstream schools attract in core revenue funding. There are separate formulas for sixth form, high needs, and early years funding. Pupil Premium (additional money to support disadvantaged children) is also paid via a separate grant.

Currently, the NFF is only being used to work out notional allocations for individual schools. These are then aggregated, adjusted, and passed to local authorities, who then draw up local funding formulas for onward distribution. This is known as a soft NFF.

The government has said it remains committed to introducing a hard NFF, i.e., one with a reduced role for local authorities in deciding allocations. In July 2021, it consulted on completing the NFF reforms, proposing a gradual move toward a hard NFF, but with no deadline for doing so. A further consultation is expected to follow.

My question then is how  will a Brent Conservative administration increase investment in schools so that they exceed the quality of education of neighbouring boroughs?

This is the answer to my email received today (April 12th)  from  Sai Karthik Madabhushi of Barnhill Conservatives. Readers can judge for themselves whether this answers the question:

Dear Martin,

Thank you for your email. I take your point on the changing NFF formula, but the consultations need to run their course and I believe the government will take decisions based on the outcome of these consultations and subsequent deliberations.

Our thoughts in the Manifesto around "Better Education", are centered around the fact that the LA has sufficient funds and resources to ring-fence additional money for education in Brent. We need to help institutions move from Needs-improvement to Good and Good to Out-standing. It bothers us that we are building more homes in the area without planning ahead for more school places for children or the stresses this will place on the existing system.

If representations have already been made to DFoE and they have been unsuccessful or if the LA deems a certain request critical to care or education in a particular school, the LA should consider releasing additional funds on a case-by-case basis. This we believe is critical to helping schools in Brent achieve, if not exceed their goals. 

We are open to suggestions and guidance to do the best thing for the community.