Powerhouse author slams government over schools cash
ONE of the key architects of the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ strategy says his patience ‘is nearly exhausted’ by government figures trying to ‘play the game’ rather than do anything of substance for the north.
Former minister Lord Jim O’Neill, a key ally of ex-chancellor George Osborne, has accused ministers of simply reannouncing old money in a ‘misleading’ attempt to prove they are spending extra cash on the region’s schools.
He also claimed government lacks a ‘co-ordinated strategy for the north’, just days after the prime minister held a cabinet meeting in the north-east in an attempt to prove the powerhouse policy was alive and well.
Lord O’Neill’s remarks come after ministers were quizzed about the use of a two-year-old, £70m pot of cash originally intended for northern schools, known as the Northern Powerhouse Education Fund.
He accused the Department for Education of never actually setting up the fund, claiming it had both recycled it for other schemes and used it for national projects.
Lord O’Neill - who was pivotal in drawing up the government’s original Northern Powerhouse policy - wrote in a scathing letter to the education select committee: “In the two years since I left government, I have continued to be supportive of the government’s policy on the Northern Powerhouse, on the basis that steps forward previously would continue. However my patience has been nearly exhausted by the constant efforts of some to in essence ‘play the game of the Northern Powerhouse’ rather than pursuing anything of substance.”
The Northern Powerhouse Education Fund was announced in Mr Osborne’s 2016 budget in a bid to help close the north-south schools divide.
When asked by Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell how it had been spent, the Department for Education listed a number of programmes.
One item on its list referred to a £140m national ‘school improvement fund’, unveiled by the DfE as a ‘new’ pot of cash a year later – prompting Lord O’Neill to accuse it of ‘rebranding’ and ‘reallocating’ old money originally meant for the north specifically.
Some of Mr Osborne’s original pot had also been spent on the northern element of other national progarmmes intended to improve standards across the country, such as in English and maths.
Slamming the government for ‘misleading’ answers, Lord O’Neill points out the fund was ‘meant to target the specific issues faced in the north’. The items of expenditure included in those responses make it clear that the DfE has not created a Northern Powerhouse education fund to support its Northern Powerhouse schools strategy,” he adds.
Earlier this year Mr Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse Partnership think-tank warned that the north-south educational chasm remains, finding northern children are on average one GCSE grade behind those in the south. Urging the prime minister to focus on the issue, its report said too many northern Pochildren were not getting the education they need or deserve, arguing ultimately that was also holding back the region’s economy.
Despite those warnings, Lord O’Neill finds the government’s approach to the issue remains wanting. He uses his letter to reiterate the report’s recommendations, including a reform of funding for disadvantaged children to target pupils better and to provide bespoke careers guidance and work placements.
The peer and former Goldman Sachs banker – a key figure in the drawing up of Osborne’s original Northern Powerhouse vision, including Greater Manchester’s devolution deal – also slams a ‘lack of a co-ordinated government strategy for the north’ and the growing gap in performance between children in the north and those in London.
Lord O’Neill’s criticisms are a further blow for the government’s northern agenda, which has taken a series of hits in recent months, particularly in the wake of the row over Northern Rail’s performance.
This week Theresa May held a cabinet meeting in Gateshead in a bid to underline that the policy remains alive and well.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.