Committed to improving Education

This manifesto commitment for a Pupil Premium was announced by our Leader, Nick Clegg. A total of 2.5bn is being committed to this pledge and is to be paid for from savings in Government such as our proposed reforms to tax credits, which will save 1.5bn, and administrative savings in the Department for Education and quangos, which save an additional 1bn.

It is Liberal Democrat policy to give every child a fair start. With the pupil premium pledge the money will be targeted at schools taking on children who need more help, but will benefit every child in every school. The cash can be used to cut class sizes and provide one-to-one tuition or catch-up classes, ensuring every child gets the individual attention they need.

Despite the Labour government's best efforts I am deeply concerned that children in Bexhill and Battle continue to lose out and the figures are there to back that fear.

Some of the schools in our area receive significantly less money than the national average. Under these costed Liberal Democrat plans East Sussex schools would get a further 18m which they could use to cut class sizes and provide more individual support.

The current unfairness in funding results in a gap in achievement between children from the poorest backgrounds and those families who are better off.

Performance at school is closely linked to children's background. The poorest children are only half as likely to get five good GCSEs as other children. Too often, the poorest children start school already struggling and fall further behind as they grow older. Because schools taking disadvantaged children aren't getting the money they need the poorest children are only half as likely as their better-off classmates to get 5 good GCSEs including English and maths. Last year one in three children left primary school without being able to read and write properly.

Only when we get education funding back on track will we be able to give all our children the fair start they deserve.