Luke Sibieta, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, makes the case for reform of the system used for school funding:

"There is little doubt that the school funding system merits reform.

"An explicit national formula offers significant advantages, including simplicity, transparency and responsiveness of school funding.

"But change would also bring costs and disruption with large losses for some schools.

"If the government believes that a national funding formula represents the ideal system, it should begin the transition soon and be more transparent about which schools and local authorities could be most affected.