Sir Peter Lampl comments on Spring Budget 2017

Commenting on the education announcements in today’s Budget, Sir Peter Lampl, Founder and Chairman of the Sutton Trust and Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said:

“We welcome the Chancellor’s plans to introduce T-levels to improve young people’s work-related skills. It is important not only that the new courses are properly funded, but that young people get good advice to make informed choices. It is also crucial that apprenticeships are improved, particularly advanced and degree-level ones.

“We welcome plans to provide more specialist maths schools and improve transport rights for disadvantaged pupils. However, it is vital that more is done to improve access to existing grammar schools, where there are very few pupils from low and moderate income backgrounds. We need effective outreach programmes, paid tuition for those who can’t afford it and we need to give poor kids a break.

“We are also concerned that the Chancellor has done little to address the real terms funding cuts facing many schools which are impacting adversely on teaching and the curriculum.”

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The Sutton Trust is a foundation set up in 1997, dedicated to improving social mobility through education. It has published over 180 research studies and funded and evaluated programmes that have helped hundreds of thousands of young people of all ages, from early years through to access to the professions.