Michael Fabricant raised the unfairness of Government funding for schools in Staffordshire today, Thursday 26th May, with both the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and with Geoff Hoon, the new Leader of the House of Commons (formerly the Defence Secretary) in the Commons Chamber.

Michael explained "It is unfair that a school in Slough gets £3,736 per pupil, a school in Tower Hamlets gets £5,051 per pupil yet a school in Staffordshire only receives £3,021. We need a fair system of allocation of Government funds and some clarity to the formula used".

Geoff Hoon responded that being a Nottinghamshire MP he is very aware of the campaign for fairer funding for Staffordshire schools as similar problems face Nottinghamshire too. He added, "This is an issue which my colleagues in the Department of Education are now addressing". He said that he hoped there might be a solution found to this problem soon.

Michael now says: "Geoff Hoon gave an encouraging answer which I hope is not just wishful thinking. Labour has been promising a fairer funding formula for 8 years now. Perhaps, finally, headteachers in Staffordshire will see the budget increases they deserve.

"It cannot be right that a secondary school of 1200 pupils in Tower Hamlets receives £2,500,000 more than a similar school in Staffordshire and I am glad that ministers now seem to recognise this."