Labour neglecting poor pupils outside of London, say Lib Dems

Labour has increased the gap between the grades achieved by the poorest pupils in London and those obtained by the poorest in other parts of the country, research by the Liberal Democrats has found. The government has "unfairly" poured millions of pounds into schools in inner-London and metropolitan areas, but neglected other areas of the country, particularly rural districts, the Lib Dems argue. The research shows that in Kensington and Chelsea, west London, 59% of pupils on free school meals, a key indicator of poverty, achieve five GCSEs at grade C or above, including English and maths. This compares to just 14% of pupils on free school meals in Rutland, in the East Midlands. The difference between these two authorities is 45 percentage points – a wider gap than in 2005, when the difference was 33 percentage points. In some areas, such as Bristol and Cheshire West, the proportion of teenagers on free school meals who obtain five good grades is 17% and 16% respectively. Inner-London authorities tend to perform better. In Lambeth, 47% of teenagers on free school meals achieve five good grades; in Hammersmith and Fulham, the figure is 45%. The Lib Dems argue that in the five worst performing authorities – Rutland, Cheshire West, Bristol, Leeds and Nottingham – each pupil receives £250 less than the national average. But in the five top performing authorities – Kensington and Chelsea, Lambeth, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster and Hackney – each pupil receives £1,800 more than the national average. Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "This performance gap is strongly related to the unfair way money is distributed to schools, letting down the poorest children in the country – particularly those outside the small number of metropolitan areas. In a speech to Barnardo's today, Clegg promised to scrap tax credits for better-off families and channel £2.5bn more into schooling for the under-privileged. The link between financial disadvantage and low achievement in the classroom was "as bad as it was" despite Labour's investment in education, he said. He told Radio 4's Today programme: "I think what we want, as we try and get out of this recession and rebuild a country which is fairer, is a school system that gives every single child a chance to get ahead, to live out their dreams, to fulfil their potential, irrespective of where they live, irrespective of where they were born." He said the Lib Dems would find £2.5bn for extra tuition and to reduce class sizes in less advantaged areas. More than half of that – £1.5bn – would be raised by taking away tax credits from above-average income families. The other £1bn would come from introducing "very radical" changes in quangos and inspection regimes, and scrapping the ContactPoint database. "One of the biggest challenges we face as a country is breaking this link between financial deprivation at home and educational under-achievement in the classroom," Clegg added. "It is the thing that has held our country back for generations. We haven't cracked it despite all the money that's gone in from Labour. It's still as bad as it was."