Minister’s ‘rant over faith schools’ criticised by Frank Field

Apr 14 2008 by Liza Williams, Liverpool Daily Post

Birkenhead MP, Frank Field

A MERSEYSIDE MP has criticised the Government’s schools secretary, claiming he carried out a “near criminal” attack on faith schools.

The comments, made by Labour MP for Birkenhead Frank Field in a Sunday newspaper, accuse minister Ed Balls of ranting against faith schools. Mr Fields criticises government spending on education. “Such vast expenditure has produced unsatisfactory results. Four out of 10 children leave school without basic skills.

“Eighteen thousand end up after 12 years of public investment with not one single pass.

“Such figures make Ed Balls’s recent attack on faith schools not simply incomprehensible, but near criminal. What is a Schools Secretary doing attacking the one group of schools which is marked out by its success?”

The comments follow claims made by Mr Balls that faith schools insisted on parents filling in standing orders for voluntary fees, running into hundreds of pounds.