Tough choices over education: Balls

Jun 30 2009

Children's secretary Ed Balls has admitted schools and colleges will have to make savings in order to fund the Government's ambitious new education reforms.

He said that "tough choices" would have to be made to get value for money.

A new Schools White Paper sets out legally enforceable rights for pupils who fall behind to receive one-to-one or small group tuition.

It also contains details of a US-style report card for schools and page the way for weak schools to be merged with good schools in "chains" under the authority of one head.

Mr Balls rejected claims he cannot guarantee funding for his plans, after Business Secretary Lord Mandelson suggested the Government's Comprehensive Spending Review would be postponed until after the General Election, and insisted the plans set out in the White Paper were all funded.

But Mr Balls was accused of having "nothing original to offer" as he unveiled his education White Paper.

Tory spokesman Michael Gove said he was serving up "old material" and told MPs introducing legal obligations on schools to drive up standards was evidence that Labour had failed to do so in the last 12 years.

Responding after Mr Balls had set out a series of measures to meet the "economic" and "moral" imperatives to deliver high quality education, Mr Gove said: "This is high summer - the season when the BBC screens are filled with repeats.

"They have nothing original to offer, so they serve up old material which flopped on first appearance simply to fill the airwaves.

"As it is with the BBC, so it is with this Secretary of State. No wonder this document is printed on recycled paper."