THE councillor responsible for education in Swindon has joined 37 of her colleagues from around the country in urging the Prime Minister to go further on fairer funding for schools.

Coun Fionuala Foley, the cabinet member for children’s services, signed a letter addressed to Theresa May as part of a campaign by the F40 group which represents local authorities that have traditionally been under-funded when it comes to education.

The letter explains that the signatories took the unusual step of writing to the Prime Minister because they were extremely concerned that the Government is in danger of replacing one injustice with another.

The areas that make up the F40 group are set to see an additional £200m in educational funding across the board by 2019/20 as a result of the new proposals and the group welcomed that investment in their letter.

But they said it fell well short of what had been expected and, contrary to the way the proposal is being presented, it would not deliver fairness and needed further work.

Swindon Borough Council is Conservative-led and both the town’s MPs are Conservatives. But Coun Foley says it is not an attack on the Prime Minister but rather a call for action.

“It is very good news that the Government have grasped the nettle and are addressing this issue,” she said.

“Swindon is low funded – being about £600 per pupil below the national average for per pupil funding. Some local authorities receive over £2,000 per pupil more than Swindon.

“This can make a difference of £400,000 in income to a one form entry primary school and several million to a secondary school.

“This is not fair and impacts on what schools can do to raise standards.

“The new formula being proposed would give Swindon a little more money, which we are of course grateful for, but it doesn’t go far enough and would still mean the big inequalities between local authorities would continue to exist.

“The proposals should put more emphasis on per pupil funding as this would help to iron out the inequalities.

“We are part of a group of 40 low funded authorities in the F40 group who share this view which is why I signed the letter on behalf of Swindon – 38 of us signed to highlight the injustice direct with the Prime Minister.”

Laura Mayes, the cabinet member for children’s services in neighbouring Wiltshire, also signed the letter.

The leader of Swindon’s Labour group, Jim Grant, said: “After years of saying they would be making funding for schools fairer for Swindon, it would seem the Conservatives are reneging on their commitment.

“The Government has said that this is a once in a generation settlement so if their proposals are approved it could solidify Swindon’s unfair funding for a decade.”

“What makes this funding formula so wrong is that Swindon’s schools are in desperate need of support right now.

“In the last year Ofsted have identified Swindon’s education leaders as failing in the education of our young people at all levels. And nearly all of Swindon’s schools are having to make staffing cutbacks with some secondary schools having to make quite dramatic cutbacks in teaching staff.

“For the Government not to recognise that Swindon has a real need for extra financial support is really disappointing.

“I understand that a group of Conservative MPs have now said they will vote against the government schools funding proposals unless they make changes to the funding formula, and this could jeopardise the government’s parliamentary majority.

“I would hope that Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland will join these MPs and make sure Swindon’s schools are not unfairly disadvantaged from the Government’s proposals.”