Labour’s private school tax would treat children as a political football – and cost the taxpayer
Julie Robinson, General Secretary of the Independent Schools Council looks at the Labour proposals that they want to pay for free school meals by adding tax to independent school fees.
She argues “to try to make independent schools pay for this is not the right way to go about it and would be counterproductive. Their proposal is vague and uncosted and the sums don’t add up. As Angela Rayner, Shadow Education Secretary, herself acknowledges, the independent sector educates just 7% of children.
There are currently half a million children educated at independent schools. These schools currently save the tax payer a surprising £3 billion from having to educate them in state schools. Were these children driven back to the state sector, there would be a huge demand for more places and the government would be forced to build new schools at a time when there are already not enough places, not enough teachers and not enough schools. So this measure to increase funding for state school pupils may actually end up costing the taxpayer more.
They cannot, and should not, be expected to solve the problems of 25,000 state sector schools. That is the Government’s job.”
See also: Financial & Tax Planning for School Fees https://best-schools.co.uk/expert-advice-financial-and-tax-planning/
Chinese university to open in Oxford despite ideological crackdown at home
Peking University buys stately home for nearly £9m and says it will house a campus designed for students from both Europe and China.
Peking University, an elite Beijing institution where Mao Zedong once worked as a librarian, will open a branch of its HSBC Business School in Oxford early next year.
Peking University described its Oxford campus, designed for students from both Europe and China, as “a bold step” and “an important milestone for the development of China’s higher education, given its inferior position globally over the past century”.
“It is our hope that the new initiative in Oxford will further strengthen the school’s international reputation as well as its teaching and research capabilities,” Lin Jianhua, its president, said in a statement.
See also: University Advice http://www.universityadvice.co.uk/