LIB DEM SHADOW SCHOOLS MINISTER RETURNS HIS DAUGHTER'S £250 'BABY BOND'
April 11, 2006 12:00 AM
Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West and the Liberal Democrat Shadow School Minister has returned his baby daughter Isabel's Child Trust Fund cheque for £250 to the Chancellor Gordon Brown.
The Child Trust Fund was introduced in 2004 and will cost the British taxpayer at least £240 million per year until 2010, money that could and should be spent where it will benefit children most - in early years and primary education.
Mr Mulholland had looked into whether it was possible to spend the £250 on pre-school or nursery costs but discovered that it could only be paid into an account which would be untouched for eighteen years at which point his daughter would receive a lump sum on her eighteenth birthday.
Mr Mulholland is now calling for the whole scheme to be scrapped and the huge costs to be spent on reducing class sizes, something which teachers' say would have a real impact in terms of ensuring children get the best possible start in life. Greg's wife is a primary school teacher and so knows from her experience that there are still far too many classes of above average size, which means that children do not get the individual attention they need.
Commenting Greg Mulholland said:
"The Child Trust Fund is a gimmick, giving people the idea the Government is investing in their children, when in actual fact this daft scheme is tying up vast amounts of taxpayers' money for many years. It has no educational benefit and is economically makes no sense when there are so many calls on public funds.
"I want to see the money spent on the Child Trust Fund to be spent on early years and primary education. The huge costs involved could be used to recruit 21,000 more teachers, would cut infant class sizes from the present maximum of 30 to an average of 20, and junior class sizes to an average of 25".
"Expert opinion confirms what common sense tells us: children well taught and well cared for in their early years have a better opportunity to lead successful and rewarding lives. So the money spent on the Child Trust Fund should be spent in the first years of a child's life rather than handing out a one-off cash windfall to18 year-olds at taxpayers' expense".
"My wife is a primary school teacher has taught several classes of 30 or more children, which is of course well above the recommended average. She tells me that there is nothing that would assist teachers more in enabling them to give proper attention to their pupils than reducing class sizes".
"Cutting the number of pupils she and other teachers have to teach would ensure more individual attention for pupils' educational and social development and allow any Special Educational Needs to be adequately addressed".
"It is time this silly scheme was scrapped and Gordon Brown started putting investment where it has the maximum impact and where it would make the most positive difference to people's lives and that is investing in our children's education".
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