Education funding faces £30m in cuts

Education in the West Midlands will face the biggest spending cuts under details revealed by the Government.

Councils are having their targeted grants cut by several millions of pounds.

While the Government has said funding for schools will be protected, cash given to council education departments which schools tap into for extra facilities is to go. Birmingham, Staffordshire, Wolverhampton, Sandwell, Dudley and Walsall could lose £30 million this financial year.

More than two thirds of that some £20m will come from the money they receive for education.

The savings are to be made from the councils' current 2010/2011 budget, and represents around one per cent of their overall funding from Whitehall.

The local authorities will now have to determine where the reductions will be made within their services.

In addition, £1m worth of road safety funding has also been axed.

Birmingham City Council is having its targeted funding slashed by £12.6m, of which education will make up £7.6m of the cut.The Working Neighbourhoods Fund, which aims to get people off state hand-outs and back to work, is to be cut by £754,000 in Wolverhampton.

Staffordshire Council will not be getting £84,000 in Home Office funding, which could be used towards tackling anti-social behaviour and fighting crime.

Walsall is to lose £125,000 and Dudley some £121,000 for administration costs for running the Government's Supporting People programme which provides housing-related support to vulnerable people.

This includes the elderly, homeless, victims of domestic violence and people with mental health problems.

A total of £75,000 is to be cut from the Government's Prevent scheme in Sandwell which aims to tackle violent extremism, while Wyre Forest District Council will not be getting £18,000 to boost community relations.

Local government has been told to save £1.165bn of the £6.2bn cuts planned to reduce the £156bn deficit.