Education wins out in pre-budget speech

Gordon Brown won union approval for some parts of his December pre-budget speech, particularly for measures to boost training, education and research.

Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, welcomed the Chancellor's endorsement of the Leitch report, which calls for 90% of all adults to have five good GCSEs or the equivalent (see "Skills review proposes legal right to training" elsewhere in this issue).

Increased investment in educational infrastructure was also welcomed, with total capital investment due to rise to £10.2 billion by 2010/11. In England this will pay for 12,000 new or completely refurbished schools, affecting half of all primary schools and 90% of secondary schools.

Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the NUT teachers' union, said this is "the best bit of news we have had since Labour came to power".

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT also had praise for the Chancellor but warned against funds being used for more academies.

UCU joint general secretaries Sally Hunt and Paul Mackney welcomed the £60m to be directed towards applied research, but underlined the importance of science teaching in universities.

The PCS civil service union expressed deep concern about the ability of government to implement the Leitch report because of huge job cuts in the Department for Education and Skills and also in the Learning and Skills Council.