Lib Dems lay down gauntlet to Tories on academies

Liberal Democrats will be moving a motion on Wednesday calling on the three party leaders to send a letter to the Secretary of State for Education about the financial impact of academies on local services to Leicestershire residents.

Simon Galton, Leader of the Liberal Democrats has pointed out that Conservative voted against a Lib Dem Motion on academies back in 2010 which predicted most of what has recently happened. This new motion calls on the government to change the unfair funding formula that results in Leicestershire pupils receiving less money per head than other areas.

Simon said: "At last month's Budget meeting Leicestershire Tories voted to slash £10m from the CYPS budget as a result of Mr Gove top-slicing the Council's funding to give to academics. Despite attempts by the Tories to rewrite history, Liberal Democrats are aiming to keep the pressure on Mr Parsons to address this loss of funding.

An alternative Tory motion doesn't go far enough to deal with the impact of this loss of funding on Leicestershire; it makes no effort to highlight the effect on the Council when a school decides to become an academy. It also does nothing to ensure that schools that choose not to turn into an academy are not punished through loss of funding and support.

Tories in Leicestershire are split on the issue of academies and their motion lacks any forceful response to the concerns we have continually raised. Liberal Democrats in Cambridgeshire as well as Conservatives in Central Bedfordshire have been able to pass more robust motions on a cross party basis, and it's a shame that the Tories are not prepared to adopt a similar approach to their colleagues in other areas."

"We challenge them to work on a cross party basis with us to strengthen their motion with the best elements from ours and send a clear message to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove about ensuring the best for our schools and residents"