Speech summary - Nick Clegg - 2015 hope?

NICK CLEGG has warned there is a major battle looming over schools funding as the Government pushes ahead with plans to divert more money towards rural areas.

The Deputy Prime Minister hailed moves within the Coalition to bring about the long called-for overhaul of schools funding that will finally help 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 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."
"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."

The Deputy Prime Minister was speaking to the Western Morning News about a new national funding formula as he announced a £600 million annual investment in free school meals. He told the WMN: "There has been an unfair arrangement as far as a fair number of rural schools are concerned, dealing with much more hidden levels of deprivation compared to urban deprivation." The South West in particular loses out. Devon sits sixth from bottom in a national league table of 151 education authorities in terms of funding, with schools getting hundreds of pounds less per pupil than the national average and half as much as in parts of London. Cornwall and Somerset are only marginally better off than Devon.

Mr Clegg said he wanted to offer free bus travel to teenagers, citing youngsters in rural Somerset who have to pay hundreds of pounds a year to get to jobs and training that their equivalent in the city would avoid. He added: "I am keen as a leader of a party with so many councillors and MPs in rural areas to make sure rural areas get a fair deal. And that is what I am striving to do."