AN error by red-faced staff at Rachel Maclean’s office has led to the Redditch MP issuing an apology.
Last week her office put out a press release which had the MP congratulating 22 schools in Redditch for being successful in their bids for money to improve the fabric of their buildings, receiving £225,733 in total from the government’s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
Not so, said eagle-eyed reader Sharon Harvey from Southcrest, who spotted that only two Redditch schools were successful in their CIF bids while the remaining 20 had only received their annual sum from the government for the upkeep of buildings.
“It appeared Rachel was referring to the Devolved Formula Capital (DFC) for schools,” said Sharon.
“This is related to the CIF, in that the pots of money are connected. However DFC is an annual lump sum schools get every year and is paid based on pupil numbers. No bidding is required. The CIF is a bid based system.
“It’s a technicality but in my opinion what she said is misleading as she is claiming credit for something that happens every year.
“In fact only two Redditch schools had successful CIF bids this year.”
Mrs Maclean said: “Unfortunately, a member of my team confused two funding pots and as a result the press release contained incorrect information.
“I want to take this opportunity to apologise for this mistake.
“Myself and my team would never set out to deliberately mislead residents. It was an honest mistake and I’m very happy to correct the record.
“Two schools in Redditch, Trinity High School and the Vaynor First School, will receive funding from the Condition Improvement Fund. Congratulations to them on their successful bids.
“I continue to lobby the Government for more funding for schools in Redditch as I’m acutely aware of the pressures on school budgets.”
