8 March 2010
Building schools for the future –
The Labour government is carrying out the biggest school improvement programme in over 50 years.
I am concerned, however, that the Conservative led Birmingham City Council is not getting its act together to secure a bigger share of government funding or to make sure that schools in our area are being rebuilt or refurbished as quickly as in other areas of the city. Both Frankley High and Dame Elizabeth Cadbury schools have been shifted further down the list whilst giving more priority to schools in other parts of the city.
The good news is that hundreds of millions of pounds is being provided for Birmingham schools so far and work is underway on 10 schools already. But the majority of secondary schools in Birmingham still do not know when it will be their turn.
I have been raising questions about this in the House of Commons for some weeks and today I asked the Minister for Schools about Birmingham’s progress. You can read my question online here. The Minister has agreed to meet with me to discuss further about what is happening in Birmingham.
I am also demanding that Birmingham City Council meet local MPs. They must come clean about what is going on. I also want to know whether they agree with David Cameron’s plan to cut £4.5 billion from Labour’s Building Schools for the Future programme – which could hit almost all secondary schools in the Northfield area still waiting for confirmation of a start date.
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