Education targets its own office for savings

It has inherited a £2.2m. overspend last year from its predecessors and needs to make further savings on top of that position as part of this year’s budget.

On Thursday, the committee announced that it would apply an inflation-linked increase to the pre-school education scheme, which means an extra £35,868 will be spent on it this year, a total of nearly £1.9m.

‘This move merely allows the pre-school rate to maintain its value in real terms,’ said Education, Sport & Culture president Matt Fallaize.

‘The committee’s budget challenges are not going to be resolved by pinching a few pounds from here, there and everywhere.

‘The financial position will be made sustainable only through genuine transformation.

‘We are determined to realise opportunities to reduce expenditure by reforming secondary and post-16 education and reducing funding to the grant-aided colleges, both of which have been approved by the States, and also reforming the Office of the Committee for Education, Sport & Culture.’

Before the pre-school scheme started, which entitles eligible children to free access for 15 hours a week, 119 of those that could were not attending.

That figure has now dropped to 20, or 3.2%.

Deputy Fallaize said the committee would not allow parents to be charged top-up fees.

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