Welsh Conservatives have welcomed a review of education in Wales, which highlights the importance of direct funding for schools.
The Independent Task & Finish Group’s report – the Structure of Education Services in Wales – says ‘the guiding principle should be that funding goes directly to the level where delivery and performance lies’.
The Welsh Conservatives have previously revealed that over £100million is eaten up by bureaucracy and red tape in Local Education Authorities every year. That’s 4% of the schools budget.
The Party’s 2011 Assembly election manifesto states that it would ‘fund schools directly from WAG to give head teachers the powers to boost educational attainment’.
Welsh Conservatives have urged the Education Minister to accept the Task & Finish Group’s recommendations, ahead of a debate on the report in the Assembly on Tuesday June 28th.
Shadow Minister for Education, Angela Burns AM, said: “We wholeheartedly welcome this report and the steps it is recommending to improve education in Wales.
“The Welsh Conservatives have long supported the direct funding of schools.
“These recommendations – from an Independent Task & Finish Group – plainly support this principle.
“While we recognise the report does not go as far as 100 per cent direct funding, it is now crucial that the Welsh Labour government takes that important point on board, as highlighted in our 2011 manifesto.
“Report after report and statistic after statistic is telling Labour the same thing: as it stands, our education system is simply not fit for purpose.
“The Minister has got to accept these recommendations on the structure of our education system and make developing them his number one priority.
“Welsh Conservatives will closely monitor the action taken, along with its progress.”
