Angela Rayner MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, commenting on the Annual Report of HMCI 2016/17, said:

“This report shows that far too many children are not being given the excellent education that should be their right.

“The fact that under the Tories schools have consistently struggled to improve, have struggled to recruit staff and had high levels of turnover should come as a wake-up call to this Government over its failed approach to the teaching profession.

“While Ministers continue to act as if their funding of early years education is sufficient, over 5,000 early years providers have been lost in the last year alone, as the Government has rolled-out their under-funded 30 hours policy.

“Missing recruitment targets in five successive years, slashing school budgets by £2.7 billion, and imposing real terms cuts in public sector pay that leave teachers £5,000 a year worse off will only make things worse in some of our most challenging schools.

“If the Government was committed to giving every child the best start in life, they would do well to start with Labour’s commitment to providing new funding to end the public sector pay cap, to help schools recruit and ensure every child can access a great education.”

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