F40 AND EDUCATION FUNDING

That this House commends the long-running campaign that the F40 group has fought for fairer funding on behalf of the lowest funded education authorities and supports the group's effort to achieve a fairer deal for pupils across the country; welcomes the detailed submission that the F40 group made to the consultation on the funding formula under the previous Government; notes with concern the widening gap between the best and worst funded education authorities in recent years; further welcomes the comments of the Secretary of State for Education that `it is our intention to try to ensure, consistent with making provision for the very poorest children, that all local authorities, including those that have been most disadvantaged, have fairer funding'; particularly welcomes in this regard the idea of a pupil premium; and urges the Government to proceed rapidly with measures that will provide fairer funding for those education authorities that are members of the F40 group.