Government 'smash and grab' plan on Bradford schools could cost £1 m

10.58.30am GMT Sat 8th Dec 2007

Cllr David Ward ( Lib Dem,, Idle & Thackley ), has warned that a proposal by the government to take away cash reserves that local schools have built up will damage children's education by taking almost £1 million away from schools.

The government have put out for consultation a proposal to siphon off 5% of the cash held in reserve in school budgets. Cllr Ward, who is the Lib Dem spokesperson on education said,

"Schools in Bradford District have £19 million in the bank between them. Much of this is being set aside to pay for big projects and some of it is working balances which every organisation must have. Taking money from school budgets in this way is little more than a smash and grab on careful schools that have planned for the future. The 5% will be calculated from March 2007, which means that if a school has spent the money since, they will still have to pay up.

"The government claims the money will be given back to councils to spend on education. My fear is that all they want to do is claim they are spending lots of new money on education when the reality is the government is spending the same money twice.

This proposal by the government should be dropped immediately. The money built up by schools in Bradford District should stay with the schools for the benefit of children."