Ask any Liberal Democrat what their party has achieved in government, and the answer will involve the words ‘pupil premium’. It was a key manifesto pledge in 2010, and is one of the policies that the party is proudest of from its time in government so far. It’ll be sure to come up time and time again in speeches in Brighton, too.
Which is why it’s rather awkward that with two days to go to the Liberal Democrat autumn conference, Ofsted has revealed ‘disturbing findings’ about the way schools are actually administering the premium. Chief Sir Michael Wilshaw said the extra £600 per pupil from a disadvantaged background was largely plugging gaps in school budgets rather than helping those pupils who brought the money in.
New Schools Minister David Laws told the Today programme that this was ‘not good enough’, and the way the premium is being distributed has concerned other Liberal Democrat MPs, too.
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