Wednesday 16 March 2016

Budget 2016: George Osborne to Announce the End of the 3.30pm School Bell By Peter Dominiczak


Thousands of schools will be able to open for an average of an hour longer a day in an end to the “Victorian” tradition of the 3.30 pm bell, George Osborne will announce as he puts education at the heart of his Budget speech.
The Chancellor will vow to free the system “from the shackles of local bureaucracy” as he sets out a new fund will allow a quarter of secondary schools in England to lengthen the school day.
It will mean that hundreds of thousands of pupils will get at least an additional five hours a week of lessons or extra-curricular activities such as sport and art.
Mr Osborne will also pledge to force every school in the country to convert into an academy by 2022.
It will end local-authority control of schools in England, a system which has been in place since it was enacted by Arthur Balfour in 1902.
The plans amount to the biggest change to the way children in this country are educated since the national curriculum was introduced in 1988, sources said.
Mr Osborne will tell the Commons that more than £1.5 billion in additional funding will be spent on education over this Parliament.
“It is simply unacceptable that Britain continues to sit too low down the global league tables for education,” Mr Osborne will say. “So I’m going to get on with finishing the job we started five years ago, to drive up standards and set schools free from the shackles of local bureaucracy.
“I also want to support secondary schools that want to offer their pupils longer school days with more extra-curricular activities like sport and art. So we’ll fund longer school days for at least 25 per cent of all secondary schools.”
The Chancellor will use his Budget to announce an extra £4billion of cuts because of concerns about a “more uncertain” global economy.
The announcement of the cuts, equivalent to 50p in every £100 the Government spends, will be a marked contrast to the Autumn Statement four months ago, during which Mr Osborne said he had an extra £27billion to spend because of better-than-expected forecasts.
However, he is expected to raise the threshold at which people start paying 40p tax, in a move that could see hundreds of thousands of people pulled out of the higher rate of income tax.
Mr Osborne wants to “accelerate progress” towards the Conservative's manifesto pledge of raising the threshold for the 40p rate to £50,000 in 2020, it is understood.
Mr Osborne has already ruled out plans to scrap higher rate tax relief on pension contributions. However, he could announce further reductions in the lifetime allowance, the amount people can save into their pensions before incurring penal rates of tax.
He is facing a rebellion by more than 30 Conservative MPs who are appealing for his to freeze fuel duty instead of allowing it to rise by RPI inflation.
Cabinet ministers including Robert Halfon have this week urged him not to raise the duty amid concerns that the move would alienate motorists.
Mr Osborne is expected to announce a rise in insurance premiums that could see families pay £190 extra for motor, home contents, pet insurance and breakdown cover.
And on Tuesday, Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, hinted that Mr Osborne will also use the Budget to announce a further cut in beer duty as part of a Tory drive to save Britain’s pub industry.
Mr Osborne will also introduce a huge national infrastructure drive by announcing plans for the HS3 railway in the north of England, Crossrail 2 in the South East, and one of Europe’s longest tunnels beneath the Pennines.
Mr Osborne will make his education pledges the centre-piece of a Budget designed to “transform life chances” across Britain.
Under the academy plans, schools will either have to have converted by 2020 or have a plan in place to commit them to converting by 2022.
If any school does not have a plan in place, the Government will intervene and take over control of the organisation.
Academies have powers to use their independence to alter staff pay, the curriculum, admissions and the shape of the timetable.
In a move aimed at working parents who struggle to organise child care on a daily basis, Mr Osborne will announce new rules to allow schools to apply for extra funding to lengthen the school day.
The Treasury said that 25 per cent of secondary schools in England – around 800 institutions - will initially be able to extend their hours under the plans.
Sources said that the measure “is just the start” and that thousands more schools will eventually start lengthening their hours.
“The Budget I’ll deliver today will put the next generation first,” Mr Osborne will say. “And at its heart will be a bold plan to make sure that every child gets the best start in life.
“Now is the time us to make the bold decisions and the big investments that will help the next generation, and that is what my Budget today will do.”
Mr Osborne will also announce a £1.5million NHS programme to provide activity prosthetics for children so they can compete in sporting events and to fund new research.
Mr Osborne said he had found the money after a campaign to highlight the issue by Sarah Hope, whose daughter Pollyanna lost her right leg below the knee when a bus hit her on a pavement in south London in 2007 when she was two years old.

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