Stress testing the Badman report: points arising: Financial

There's so much going on, it's hard to stop reading ( ..and home educating, sorting out camping gear and generally riding the waves of domesticity..) and start writing. The consultation deadline (19th October) is looming - more about that in future posts - and home educators have been busy peacefully opposing the Badman report, as usual, to good effect. Our local group didn't manage a picnic, having just been away camping together from which I think we're all still recovering. I wish we had though. [I'd also like to direct you to Jax's comments about Mr Badman's latest efforts.]

Today's post is the last in the secondary layer of my critique of the Badman report [opens pdf] and it's focusing on the financial issues arising.

The main financial issue, in my opinion, arises in section 9 of the report, in which it is implied that the AWPU of home educated children should be drawn down to fund the administration of the recommendations. As I contended here, if the AWPU is to be drawn for home educated children, it should surely be used to fund their education, not the administration of a convoluted checking process of this.

In the current financial crisis, there might well be difficulties in providing funding for the recommendations - even just the 'safeguarding'-related ones identified for immediate action in the Ed Balls letter [opens pdf]. It will be interesting to gauge the effects of the imminent and necessary public spending cuts on this agenda.

My next post will be a concise summary of my detailed critique of the Badman report.