Spending On Education In Oldham And Rochdale

EDM number 670 in 1995-96, proposed by Chris Davies on 27/03/1996.

That this House notes that the Labour Party last year claimed that its councillors in Oldham had put that council top of the education spending league while suggesting that Liberal Democrat councillors in Rochdale had done the opposite; observes that the performance indicators recently published by the Audit Commission reveal that spending on primary and secondary education per pupil is virtually identical in the two boroughs but has been reduced in Oldham by a greater amount than in any other metropolitan authority while Rochdale has achieved one of the highest increases; suggests that one reason for the size of the reduction in Oldham is that the basis for the distorted figures used to justify last year's extravagant claims was inappropriate; believes that Labour councillors in Oldham should now apologise to Liberal Democrat representatives in Rochdale for the false and derogatory comparisons they have made; and calls on all honourable Members representing the two boroughs to support a 1p increase in income tax to provide additional finance to address the serious problems faced by both local education authorities.

This motion has been signed by a total of 3 MPs.