THE school summer holidays are now underway, but just before the end of term Swindon received some excellent news about an increase in spending on our children’s education.

The Government announced that schools in some of the least fairly funded areas in the country will benefit from extra investment. This is a significant victory for Swindon, where we’ve been arguing for years that we don’t get a fair slice of the cake due to an out-dated funding formula.

I’m delighted that next year Swindon will receive an increase of £4.3 million over the current funding level, which is a rise of 3.6%. This is well above the rate of inflation, so it means more money in real terms.

In fact, it works out at £148 per pupil extra, over and above the current year’s funding. Across the country, the total package of extra funding amounts to nearly £400 million. That’s more than was originally proposed earlier this year, so I’m really pleased that the Government has listened to the views put forward in the consultation process.

Children in Swindon deserve the very best schools so they can gain the skills they need to get on in life. Labour failed to address the unfairness in our funding system which meant that our local schools haven’t received the funding they need.

That’s why I welcome this cash boost. It means our schools will get the resources they are entitled to and will help improve the quality of education for all children in Swindon. I will keep fighting for even more so that the pupils, teachers and managers at Swindon’s schools, who already work incredibly hard, get all the support they deserve.

  • The end of the school term also saw the start of the parliamentary recess, and we’ve heard the usual jibes about MPs “getting a long summer holiday”. Nothing could be further from the truth!

I have always used the recess as an opportunity to work even harder in the constituency. It’s a chance to hold meetings with many groups, organisations and businesses in Swindon, and to attend some of the huge number of community events and activities across the town. Most importantly, it’s an opportunity to meet as many residents as possible, and I will be doing plenty of that throughout the summer.

  • Finally, this Monday marks the centenary of the start of the First World War. I’m honoured to have been asked to read a lesson at the service of remembrance at Christ Church in Old Town, at almost the exact hour that the war started 100 years ago.

On this poignant anniversary, we must never forget the sacrifice made by so many for our future.