Last week, I welcomed confirmation that the Government are consulting on the issue of school funding.

This follows campaigning from myself and Crawley teachers, and our counterparts throughout West Sussex and indeed around the country.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House of Commons last year that the consultation would take place, and on Monday 7th March the Education Secretary provided the details.

The Department for Education will be running two consultations; ‘schools national funding formula’ and ‘high-needs funding reform’.

Under this Government’s proposals, areas with the highest need will attract the most funding – in contrast to the unfairness of the decade old current system.

Additionally, funding will go straight to ‘the frontline’. Currently, the funding system relies on local authorities determining how much funding schools are allocated. The single national funding formula will remove the role of the local authority in this regard; ensuring pupils with similar needs attract the same level of funding.

This will also give headteachers more certainty and stability when it comes to planning their budgets. I have already contacted Crawley headteachers to provide information for the consultations.

These reforms build on the commitment to protect the core schools budget. This will be over £40 billion next year; and this includes the pupil premium, funding worth £2.5 billion each year for the most disadvantaged pupils. This is the highest-ever level of funding for schools of any government.

As I have written previously on these pages, West Sussex is one of the worst funded areas, and is among the lowest ten areas receiving an average of £4,200 per pupil per year. In contrast, the ten best funded areas receive an average of £6,300.

I would urge anyone concerned about the education of Crawley pupils to take part in the consultation being organised by the Government.

I have included information on the consultations, as well as the relevant email addresses and online forms to reply to, on a dedicated page on my website: www.henrysmith.info/campaigns/school-funding

The consultations close at 5pm on Sunday, 17th April 2016. If you do not have internet access, please feel free to write to: Department for Education, Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester, M1 2WD.