Brown 'deceived' public over cash given to schools

The Government faced new accusations of "spin" yesterday when headteachers complained that money announced for schools in April's Budget had been hugely exaggerated.

The criticism came as Gordon Brown prepared to make a significant boost to education spending the centrepiece of the new three-year public spending blueprint that he will unveil on Monday.

In the Budget, the Chancellor said a typical secondary school would receive a direct payment of £114,000 this year for capital investment.

But yesterday the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) accused the Government of "deception", claiming the cash boost was much smaller because Mr Brown's figures included money already in the pipeline.

According to the NAHT, a typical secondary school will receive only about £84,000. It argues that only £7,122 of that will be genuinely "new" money, because the rest forms part of the annual school standards grant.

David Hart, the association's general secretary, said the grant had been increased by 2.9 per cent, but this was needed to keep pace with inflation and so would not fund improvements.

"There is nothing like £114,000 for each secondary school," he said. "It is spin and double-counting."

Mr Hart admitted the Treasury money was "a lifeline" to cash-strapped schools, but only because the money allocated for repairs and improvements was being used to pay wages and avoid redundancies.

Michael Barber, head of Tony Blair's delivery unit, was tackled about the "misleading" Budget announcement when he addressed an education conference at Westminster on Wednesday. Frustrated headteachers shook their heads when he told them the extra money given to their schools should now be making a difference.

The Department for Education and Skills said yesterday that it made clear in its Budget press statement that the £85m capital funding announced for school repairs included "the recurrent schools standards grant" and that the "total year-on-year increases include both the money announced today and existing plans".

A spokeswoman said: "We have been clear and honest in explaining how much funding is going into education. It remains true now as at the time of the Budget that the funding boost means a typical secondary school will receive £114,000 in total direct funds. It equally remains true that the Budget investment was above inflation."

The Cabinet discussed the spending programme yesterday, and will hear the full details at a special meeting on Monday before Mr Brown announces in a Commons statement how the £420bn-a-year spending cake will be cut.

Government sources said a deal between the Treasury and Whitehall departments was "almost there." The one stumbling block was a huge bid by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, for extra money for police, prisons and asylum.

Mr Blunkett lobbied the Prime Minister in an attempt to squeeze a last-minute concession from Mr Brown, arguing that the Government must allay public fears over crime and asylum-seekers and that he had inherited inadequate budgets when he took over at the Home Office.

Although Mr Blair cancelled a visit to the East Midlands to hold talks with Mr Brown on the spending review, Downing Street insisted this was only to carry out the routine "fine-tuning" which takes place before any important government announcement. Part of the talks were over how the spending totals for individual departments would be presented.