Cut red tape to save teachers, say MPs.

Byline: ByJonathan Walker Political Correspondent

Red tape in schools must be abolished to prevent thousands of teachers being sacked, MPs said yesterday.

Conservatives have blamed the Government for reports that schools are being forced to sack staff in order to balance the books.

They said the glut of rules and regulations from Whitehall had pushed up costs and forced headteachers to make savings elsewhere.

They also attacked the one per cent increase in National Insurance contributions which has pushed up the cost of employing people. The claims were made in a Parliamentary motion signed by Andrew Mitchell (Con Sutton Coldfield), John Taylor (Con Solihull), Laurence Robinson (Con Tewkesbury), Michael Fabricant (Con Lichfield) and John Maples (Con Stratford).

It follows claims that schools across the Midlands are planning to sack more than two hundred teachers because of a funding crisis, even though Chancellor Gordon Brown promised a pounds 12.8 billion boost for education over the next two years in his Budget statement last week.

The National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said as many as 220 jobs were set to go in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Dudley as heads desperately try to meet their budgets for the next school year.

The drastic action is needed to meet rising administrative and staff costs, including increased pension and National Insurance contributions, according to the unions.

And the ATL said one in 12 of its branches across the country had reported actual or threatened redundancies.

However, the Government has insisted schools have nothing to complain about because their funding has increased dramatically.

The Government has said schools are getting a cash increase of 11.6 per cent in the current financial year. It has also provided an extra pounds 28 million to some education authorities.

The statement from the MPs said they were 'concerned' that thousands of teachers and classroom assistants were facing redundancy due to deficits in school budgets.

It said: 'These deficits are caused by higher employers' National Insurance contributions and the need for higher contributions to teachers' pensions and other additional costs borne by schools.'

They said the Government should 'ensure that increased school funding is not cancelled out by even greater cost increases paid for by schools and that teacher workloads are reduced by severely limiting the flow of Whitehall directives and removing many of their current obligations on teachers'.