THORNBURY and Yate’s MP Luke Hall has said he “does not recognise” figures from a campaign group suggesting South Gloucestershire schools will be the lowest funded in England by 2020.

National group School Cuts claims that over the coming years, funding will be cut by four per cent, to £4,093 per pupil, with the government’s claim that schools would receive £4,800 not accounting for inflation.

But Mr Hall, who has been outspoken in his support for Education Secretary Justine Greening’s “fairer funding formula”, which is expected to be in place by 2020, with schools in his constituency set to see a four per cent difference on average, but a rise instead of a fall.

The MP said last month that a number of schools would be positively affected by the £1.3billion policy, including Gillingstool Primary School and the Castle School, both in Thornbury, which will respectively see an eight per cent and six per cent increase in funding.

Tyndale Primary in Yate, which will see also an increase of 13.4 per cent, with Frampton Cotterell Primary and Yate Academy getting 9.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent rises respectively.

Mr Hall claimed he did not recognise the statistics put forward by the School Cuts, adding that the fairer funding formula was “hugely beneficial” to the area, with more money coming into schools across the Thornbury and Yate constituency.

He said: “I am aware that these figures have been going around, but that they do not take into account certain factors and making assumptions about inflation. I haven’t seen the figures myself but they sound incorrect.

“It is right that in South Gloucestershire we are going to receive less money than some inner city schools because of some of the extraordinary pressures that some of those communities face around the country but what is important is to make sure that the schools here have enough money to provide our children with a top quality education.

“One of the important factors to remember is it is a soft formula, so while that whilst we are recommending these figures to schools, South Gloucestershire Council will still have the ability to determine how much schools can receive.”