Michael Fabricant has welcomed reports that school funding may be allocated direct from Whitehall in future on a more simple per pupil age formula and says it will benefit schools in the midlands. Michael says: "Staffordshire school funding has always been one of the lowest in the country and it is simply not fair that school children in Manchester receive 14% more than school children in Staffordshire for the same education. I hope that by simplifying the funding formula, this injustice will be rectified. The change would be monumental."

Michael published the detailed school funding tables by local education authority for 2008-10 here:

"Out of 149 local authorities in England, Staffordshire ranks 18th from bottom with many other midlands counties including Shropshire, Gloucestershire, and Leicestershire doing equally badly. Why should a school with a 1,000 pupils in Manchester receive half a million pounds more allocation than a similarly sized school in Staffordshire? It is patently unfair to pupils and their parents. I shall be contacting Education Secretary, Michael Gove, urging him to simplify the funding formula so that a national standard is established which ensures that no matter where a school is, a standard pupil in a particular age grade will attract the same amount of money to the school. Of course, additional funding will still be made available for students with special needs", Michael adds.