Damian Hinds has dodged calls to announce the teachers’ pay rise, and who will fund it, before Parliament goes into recess on Tuesday.
There is growing anger among school leaders who have been left in the dark about a key part of their budgets before the academic year starts in September.
The School Teachers Review Body (STRB), which advises the Department for Education on teachers’ pay, submitted its report in May, but the government has yet to publish the document - or its response.
Tes yesterday reported that an announcement is being held up by a dispute between the DfE and the Treasury over where the funding for the widely-expected pay rise will come from.
Union leaders have already warned of a summer of anger if schools are forced to find the funding from their already-stretched budgets.
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner this morning warned Mr Hinds that “schools across the country are waiting for the report of the School Teachers’ Review Body and the government’s response, even as the clock ticks down to the start of the new academic year”.
She urged him to commit to making a statement on the pay rise before Parliament rises for the summer next Tuesday.
‘Don’t make schools fund teacher pay rise’
In response, Mr Hinds told her: “I’m not in a position today to say something about that, but that is a process that we are going through.”
Ms Rayner raised her eyebrows and smiled ruefully as Mr Hinds gave his answer.
His response came after the leader of the Commons ignored Labour pleas for the education secretary to make a statement.
Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, told MPs: “Schools are already setting up their budgets.
“They want to know whether they will be responsible for lifting the pay cap, and I hope, with their struggling funding formula, that they are not responsible for that and that money will come from central government.
“Could we have a statement from the secretary of state for education?”
Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House, did not respond to the question.
