Warning of battle on the horizon over school funding

The Deputy Prime Minister hailed moves within the Coalition to bring about the long called-for overhaul of schools funding that will finally help the small village schools which have been “short-changed” for too long.

But he hinted at the storm which is poised to erupt once the new funding formula is introduced after 2015, warning that “there will also be losers” as money is taken away from urban areas.

“There has been an unfair arrangement as far as a fair number of rural schools are concerned,” Mr Clegg said.

“The devil will be in the detail.

“It’s not going to be without controversy. There will be winners – but there will also be losers. We hope that will help schools in rural areas who feel they have been short-changed.”

The Liberal Democrat leader was less sympathetic to claims from rural councils that they too should see their funding increased, following a series of financial settlements from Whitehall which failed to take account of the cost of providing services in far-flung communities.

Mr Clegg said: “The problem is you’re getting everybody claiming they’re penalised in the financial settlement.

“Rural areas say they’re penalised, urban areas say they’re penalised. The North say they’re penalised, the South say they are penalised. I literally haven’t been to any part of the country where people do not say they are the victims of an unfair local government settlement.

“My own view is there are rather unique circumstances in rural areas – transport costs. There are unique challenges for the big inner-city areas. We’ve tried to do this as fairly as we can.”